Marching Beside The King
by Tactition101
Summary: Inspired by Xomniac's This Bites! I get a chance to join the king on their march to the throne. There's only one thing that can throw a wrench in what I know, well two things I guess. One, that king isn't Oda's version. And two, the 'higher plane' being that sent me there is more than happy to throw a guy with a few out of the box skills into the mix.
1. Chapter 1

Marching Beside The King

Summary: Inspired by Xomniac's This Bites! I get a chance to join the king on their march to the throne. There's only one thing that can throw a wrench in what I know, well two things I guess. One, that king isn't Oda's version. And two, the 'higher plane' being that sent me there is more than happy to throw a guy with a few out of the box skills into the mix.

Acknowledgements: I'd like to thank Tsume Yuki for allowing me to use their 'uncanon' Haki abilities. Check out their story Tell It To The Marines for proper in depth explanations, and for a very good read. Also check out Nouin's account on Deviantart. After loving his Cross and Soundbite picture for Xomniac's This Bites! he's the one who I commissioned for this story's cover art, the art for my Flesh to Metal Version 1 stories and I plan to commission him for quite a few pictures that will be related to this story and maybe a few more cover art commissions for my other stories.

1\. Rather Abrupt Travel Plans

Story Start: Our Universe, My Family Room

I let out a cackle as I once more read Xomniac's This Bite's story, or more specifically, Cross and Soundbite's actions against the Buster Call. I had read the entire story two times before but I sometimes couldn't help but come back to certain parts and just become a laughing mess all over again. Shaking my head, I went back to my Word documents and began working on the next chapter of my stories. Or at least I was going to before the whole screen of my laptop went snowy like a tv set on a channel it wasn't set to receive.

I blinked once before I deadpanned, "Great, someone's either decided to make my life hell again by completely screwing up my computer erasing everything on it a second time or someone's got a flair for the dramatics and is about to talk to me through the computer."

"You're pretty genre savvy. That's good, you're going to need it where you're going." A voice said as a black silhouette appeared on the screen. The voice seemed familiar but for the life of me I couldn't place it.

I let out a sigh and said "And this is the part where I get tossed into another universe I take it."

Chuckling came from the speakers as the figure said "That does seem to be the M.O. for most self insert fics doesn't it? I think you'll prefer this than dying while being a hero in a giant highway pile up though."

My eyes narrowed as I said "You've actually done your homework on me, or at least took the time to look through my stories."

"I believe that the words written by a person can give you a decent look into their thought processes. Speaking of, you know you've got quite the Gary Stew problem with how you write? Over ten years so far and none of your characters have suffered a truly crippling loss yet. And that's not getting into those RPs on Deviantart you've done." The figure said and I got the feeling he had a raised eyebrow right now.

I crossed my arms as I leaned back against the love seat that was my 'office chair' and said "What can I say, I don't like to lose."

"I don't think anyone likes to lose, it's in not only human nature but sentient nature as a whole to be selfish, even if just a very little for some species." The figure commented with a careless gesture of the hand.

"And where do you fall on that scale?" I asked raising an eyebrow as I continued "You can't tell me you intend to drop a common Joe like me into another universe for some vague 'life lesson' that will do that person some good. So what's riding on all of this, is there a bet you have going on with another higher being or are you like Zelretch and B.R.O.B. and just want to have a laugh by sticking some poor shmuck in some kind of situation that's way over their heads?"

"You've been reading one too many Translocation Self Inserts my friend." The figure said and I finally noticed that the static on my screen was beginning to settle into different shades of white and the black figure was becoming slightly more defined. It pulled the hood of the cloak it was wearing forward much like someone would pull the bill of a cap downwards and continued "However, that doesn't make you wrong. The truth is, I want to put a little 'out of the box' variable into a world and see how far the ripples of change go. Don't worry though, I'm not completely heartless. You'll be given a few, shall we say 'upgrades' to help you along the way, along with a partner to help you."

I gave the screen a deadpanned look and said "If you drop me off on the same island as Soundbite, I swear I will have Luffy kick your ass."

The cloaked figure threw his head back and let out a full bellied laugh for a full minute before settling down again and after one last chuckle said "Whoo, I needed that. Interesting that you automatically assumed it would be a One Piece world you're going to, though I suppose the fact you were just now rereading part of a Self Insert story to said world plays a part in that. Anyway, no, you're not winding up with a devil fruit transponder snail as your partner, that'd be a rather blatant bit of plagiarism, think more Aztec."

"Aztec?" I muttered before I felt my eyes unconsciously widen. There was only one creature from Aztec mythology that I actually knew, if only the 'common' idea of it. Giving the figure on my screen an incredulous look, I said "A freaking Quetzalcoatl?! What the HELL do you expect me to get into that your partnering me with a several hundred-foot-long storm god!?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, your partner won't even be five feet long at first. It'll be just like a Pokémon, getting bigger and stronger through training by your side." The figure said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Like that makes me less nervous about what we'll get into." I muttered as I remembered all of the places in the Grand Line the Straw Hats went to before I glared at the screen and said "And another thing, how the SCRAP do you expect me to actually survive in a One Piece world?" I gave a meaningful pat of my stomach area and said "I may not be fluffy, but I'm definitely big, if not healthy. I'm pretty sure even pre-marine Coby could kick my ass."

The cloaked figure chuckled and said "You give yourself too little credit Matthew, you could easily handle Coby. After all, he didn't make Orange Belt in Karate in his teen years."

"Well ok, maybe Coby's an exaggeration, but the fact remains, former minimal training or not, at this point in my life, I am NOT combat capable. Especially when it comes to fighting others who are either a, trained marines, or b, pirates who have learned their skills while causing havoc on the high seas with said marines doing their best to kill them." I said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage with the 'care package' I'm giving you. Those upgrades I mentioned before? They'll be unlike anything else in that world." The figure said chuckling ominously.

I gave him a flat look and said "You're not going to turn me into some magic boy or power ranger knock off are you?"

The figure snorted and said "Hell no, who do you take me for, Zelretch? You know what, don't answer that." I closed my mouth with a click of my teeth as he continued "You'll find out more when you get there but just know for now that if you play your cards right you'll be able handle yourself just fine. Now then, I think I've been a lot more nice about this than that bastard of a R.O.B., but it's time get things rolling." The figure held up three fingers on his right hand and said "I'll give you three minutes to pack that bookbag beside your seat with what you want to bring. And don't be skimpy with your electronics, you're going to be stuck on a boat for long periods of time and I'm going to be kind enough to provide a wind up handheld generator for you and you'll be able to access the internet as well. Wouldn't want you falling off the FanFic grid again after all."

"That's generous of you." I said in surprise but still grateful to have my gear with me.

"Isn't it just." The figure said with a chipper tone in his voice before he grew serious and said "So then, let's get started eh?"

"Hang on, before you start the clock, what the heck do I call you?" I asked even as I tensed my muscles in anticipation to start grabbing everything on the family room table that was my 'work station'.

All of a sudden, I could see a mouth under the cloak's hood that seemed impossibly wide and grinning like anime characters would when they were either going to absolutely humiliate someone or do something incredibly badass. The figure let out a soft but ominous chuckle as he said "Call me Taifun."

"Isn't that Czech for Typhoon?" I muttered to myself with furrowed eyebrows.

Taifun's grin somehow got even bigger as he said "Your time starts now Matthew." His image disappeared only to be replaced by a three minute timer on the screen. The sight of the timer snapped me out of my shock and I pushed the power button on the laptop before quickly closing the lid. With the practiced speed that came from saving packing my electronics till the last minute before a road trip I snatched my bookbag from the ground and quickly put the laptop and the Flash Drive that had been previously connected to it in before I grabbed my four external hard drives holding tv shows and movies and tossed them in as well. Next in was my pair of reading glasses. I saw the half roll of duck tape on the table and remembering the three episodes the Mythbusters did on it grabbed that as well. I then grabbed the power cords that were in the power strip on a nearby table, Laptop, Iphone, and Nintendo 3DS XL and tossed them in without rolling them, I'd untangle them later. Next was said Iphone and 3ds before remembering Gibb's Rule #9 had me grabbing the Leatherman Fuse multi tool knife off the table and tossing it in. I quickly snatched my Carheart jacket off the nearby chair along with the army camo hat that was on top simply because it was there before I put the Sun/Moon guide and pokedex books that were by the power strip in. (They were there and I had Moon currently in my 3DS) A quick moment of thought had me bolting down the hall towards my room, using the doorway to the master bedroom as a jumping point to make the ninety degree turn faster and I quickly ran to the end into my room where I grabbed my nose less polarized mask (I was going into a world predominately made of ocean, I WANTED that mask.) before I dumped all of my 3DS game cartridges into the book bag before I quickly shot over to the other side and grabbed my rarely used backup Samsung Galaxy 2 tablet and its power cord. A quick look around had me grabbing the half full 10.5 oz pouch of Reese's Pieces since I didn't know where I was going to be dropped off or how long I'd have to wait for the Strawhats, or other humans for that matter, to find me. Hopefully I could source some water there because I probably didn't have time to make a run for the fridge.

As if that thought was the cue, Taifun's voice filled my bedroom as he said "Time's up." The world suddenly whited out and I was forced to slam my eyes shut to avoid going blind.

Scene Change: Snake Island

I let out a groan as I opened my eyes and said "That was rather unpleasant." I blinked when I noticed what looked like the roof of a cave and said "When did I switch from standing up to laying down?"

"You appeared in that position." A female voice said from on my chest. When I looked down, I had to blink at the sight of a two foot long silver snake with blue wings looking at me with a cocked head like a dog looking at something curiously. My hands immediately went to support her as I sat up and said "You wouldn't happen to be my new partner in this whole mess would you?"

The snake shook her head and said "Mh-hm, it was just my turn to watch you while you were unconscious. Now that you're awake, I'm supposed to take you to where your partner is. But first, we were told to tell you to turn on your 'tablet' immediately after you wake up."

I raised an eyebrow at that before I looked around for my bookbag. Finding it beside me on the floor of the cave, I opened the zipper and dug through it one handed before I felt the Otter case it was in. Pulling it out, I popped the case off one handed and turned on the power. As it booted up, I said "So how long have I been out of it?"

"Just under six hours after your arrival." The snake said slithering up to my right shoulder before the Tablet's log on screen popped up. I quickly slid my thumb across the standby screen and the grid menu came up, an icon in the shape of a Straw Hat that wasn't there before flashing. I tapped the button and a text window popped up. My eyebrows furrowed as I read "I had to do a little bit of biomodification when you got here. Nothing much I assure you, but as I'm sure you know from Cross' early experiences, the populations of Earth and this world are fundamentally different when it comes to what they can endure. So I gave your body the equivalent of a mega booster shot along with a couple of other things. For instance, your body is now actually capable of using Haki since it couldn't on Earth. Mind you, you still have to learn how to use it and you don't have Conqueror's Haki, but the option is still there. The other thing I did to your body was give it the Gamer abilities of ID Create and Nav Point setting. Considering the Gamer style fics in your Favorite List, I'm sure I don't need to explain about them. I gave you the ID Create option both for training and resource gathering purposes. In the IDs, and only the IDs, your opponents will leave money and item drops once you've beaten them. This will allow you to take full advantage of the next modification I made. On this tablet you will find a program that allows you to access a trade forum that deals in pretty much anything in the multi-verse. You could even buy a Death Star if you had enough funds for it. Speaking of funds, I took the liberty of linking your checking account to the program so you have just over six hundred dollars to start with. That should be enough to buy you a good starting weapon. I suggest buying something with Iron Wood to start with. It's hard enough to do some damage but won't automatically cut you if you make a mistake while learning how to use a bladed weapon. For the Nav Point option, there is a world map downloaded onto this tablet with an island index provided. It's currently locked for now but when it's time for you to leave it'll unlock after you reach the first nav point that I'll set. Speaking of time, you have three months to prepare before you head out to join the Straw Hats so I suggest you use it wisely. That's everything you need to know at this moment so in the words of the bounciest tiger out there, TTFN, Ta Ta For Now."

As the text window faded away showing that the straw hat icon had turned into a shopping cart, I sighed and said "Three months huh? Something tells me I'm going to have to use all of my money for camping supplies." Glancing to the snake on my shoulder, I said "So where to now?"

"Follow me." The feather serpent chirped eagerly before diving off my shoulder before opening her wings and flying out of the cave we were in. I quickly picked up my book bag and took off after her, putting my tablet in standby as I tossed the bag over one shoulder and put the tablet in the bag before zipping it closed (Not an easy task to do over the shoulder) and glanced around as I followed my guide.

What I saw was truly an impressive sight. We were about halfway up a mountain on an island predominately filled with forests. The mountain we were on seemed to be the only one and was chock filled with thin but rapidly moving rivers that had several waterfalls in them as they made their way to the forest below us and continuing on into the sea. Said rivers were being supplied by the giant snow cap so high above us a cloud was parting as it passed by showing how it could remain in place even with it feeling like early summer where I was. Speaking of where I was, the mountain was pockmarked with dozens if not hundreds of caves, some of them with winged serpents of all sizes and colors passing through them. There were even more serpents flying over the forest, diving, weaving, flying like fighter jets dog fighting each other, and in one area without trees half way to the far off shore creating weather events, the scale of said not so natural disasters growing quite big at times.

"Oda never showed any of this." I said in awe as I took in the thriving island even as I somehow kept walking after my guide.

"Well I can't speak for this Oda of yours but we Quetzalcoatl really like our privacy. We've got an island wide mirage up at all times so anyone who sees this place from a ship just sees an island with incredibly dangerous craggy mountains." My guide said looking back towards me even as she continued flying forward showing in my opinion a not so unimpressive amount of flying skill.

"Then why are you guys helping me and even allowing one of your own to leave the island?" I asked. An isolationist community like theirs seemed to be usually had strict laws about their members leaving.

The snake twisted in the air so that way its body was vertical as it flew backwards and seemed to shrug as she said "We can leave whenever we want so long as we use our mirage skills to maintain the secrecy of our race's existence, although that is not an iron clad rule, more like an extremely serious suggestion. But as for helping you, well," The snake shrugged again and said "when a being that has the power to literally tear open as big a hole in space and time as he wants 'suggests' you help someone, it's best you do so before he decides to displace your island from your world and replace it with one that's more willing to do what he says."

"So, he threatened you guys." I said with a frown.

"Oh no, no, no. Not threatened, explained just what he was capable of and let us draw our own conclusions. There's a small but no less important for it difference." My guide said wagging her tail like a finger a little as she explained.

"Fair enough." I said though my frown remained in place until we reached what looked to be for all intents and purposes a medical bay. There were dried herbs hanging from old snake skin 'ropes' along the walls with honest to Oda and Primus doctor's beds of various sizes carved into the rock of the cavern with some filled with water while others had softly glowing coals under their occupants that I assumed came from the ten-foot-wide fire that was slowly burning at the just barely sustainable level in the middle of said coal holding beds.

As I looked around, my guide shot straight to a bed where a four foot black snake with a set of greyish green wings just over half a foot behind his head and a white stripe going down his back was being looked over by a twenty foot long snake that just screamed stereotypical witch doctor with their old aged appearance and what looked suspiciously like a bear tooth hanging from a snake skin cord just over its first of three set of wings. Landing on the bed next to the two, she said "Tyrus, your partner's awake."

Tyrus glanced over at me and said "You're the one I'm supposed to be keeping safe? Don't look like much do you?"

"To be honest, I don't feel like much either." I admitted as I walked over before crossing my arms and said "But I'm willing to work at becoming much. Besides, you don't look like much either but you know what they say about judging packages by their size."

"Heh, well said. Tyrus." The snake said before offering his tail.

"Matthew, though I prefer Matt." I said taking the tail and shaking it before I glanced to the medic and said "Anything wrong with him?"

The medic shook their head and said "Just giving him a quick physical to make sure he's healthy enough to start his new duties." The medic then sharpened his focus on me as he said "But if he's going to be traveling the world with you then it would do well for you to know some of our biology. What do you know about Quetzalcoatl?"

"Not much to be honest. I know that their based off an Aztec god whose domain is wind and wisdom. Depending on which version you're looking at they have the ability to create storms and other weather related events. All of them though have the ability to create illusions that make them look like birds." I said with a cocked head.

"Will that's the extreme basics, so let me give you a little more information. Quetzalcoatl are all born at the same size of one foot long. If they grow longer is completely up to the individual but every foot of growth requires an exponential amount of energy. The same is true about the amount of wings they can grow. As you said before, we do have the ability to manipulate weather events, but the scale is based both how long we have lived and our body length and width which dictates how much energy we can put into the weather manipulation. Our eating habits are incredibly similar to other serpents although unlike them we can gain nourishment from natural weather events though the best amount comes from thunder storms."

"Or Logias." Tyrus said with a grin that I think was supposed to come off as Jokerish only to yelp and rub the top of his head with his tail after the doctor slapped the back of his head with a wing. The doctor gave him a disapproving look before turning towards me and said "Ignore the young one please, for obvious reasons, we haven't actually had contact with humans, never mind Devil Fruit users on this island in decades if not centuries."

"What about those who have left the island?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

The doctor waggled his top wings in a so-so manner as he said "Well they rarely come back but when the ones who are big enough to actually eat a human do they never mention eating anyone Logia or otherwise."

I nodded at that and the impromptu lesson continued as the doctor told me about basic health care for Quetzalcoatl and the signs to look out for when it came to common health problems and what to do if Tyrus managed to break any of his bones in his upcoming adventures.

One hour later Tyrus and I were settled down in a cave that would be reasonably comfortable for me to stay in at the night, not too small as to be claustrophobic inducing but not too big to become absolutely drafty at night when the air cooled. There was even a small fire pit with a bit of kindling and bigger fire fuel that the Quetzalcoatl had thoughtfully left for me and one of the small rivers passed not ten feet to the right of the cave entrance giving me a nearby source of fresh water. I'd have to buy something to separate me from the floor when I slept by the slightly raised bed that could hold warm coals Tyrus would be sleeping on of course but Taifun had made that a non problem when he gave me access to a trade forum and my previous funds so I already had that covered in the extremely durable blow up mattress that 'serious' hikers used in my 'shopping cart'.

The two of us were currently debating which weapon I should get as a starter. I was convinced that all I would need was to get a staff that I could duck tape my knife to if I needed something with a bit more bite. Staves weren't known for chopping off the limbs of anyone foolish enough to make a mistake wielding them after all. Tyrus was of the opinion that said staff was lame and I needed something that made a bigger statement to in his words 'match the same level of badass that I have.'

Giving a sigh as the argument went for its fifth minute, I said "Tyrus, I've never been trained in melee weapons and I certainly don't think my minimal training in archery is going to allow me to last very long against whatever opponents we'll face in my IDs. A staff gives me reach and is relatively simple to learn. I need to start small before I can go big."

"It's just a giant stick though!" Tyrus said with a pout.

Giving another sigh, I decided to try compromise and said "Look, if I get a Taiaha will you drop this?"

"A tia-what now?" Tyrus asked with a cocked head.

I tapped the weapon's name into the trade forum's search bar and a group of five-foot-long wooden weapons with stone spear heads on one end and sharpened wooden clubs on the other. Tyrus leaned in slightly and said "Why'd they sharpen the wooden end?"

"The sharp edge adds more damage when you whack someone with it. So, does this meet your standards?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I suppose so." Tyrus said with a slight sigh.

Nodding once, I selected a basic version of the weapon, (They were $385 and up, I'd have to do a bit of grinding before I got to the better ones. The adamantium tipped one was an astounding 400 THOUSAND dollars.) and put it in my cart. With the weapon selected leaving me with about two hundred dollars left, I bought a holder sheath for the Taiaha to keep on my back so I wouldn't have to carry it at all times before I bought a thirty five pack of water bottles and enough trail mix and other assorted dry camper's food to last me for a week before I purchased everything.

There was a flash of light before everything appeared in a pile in front of me. I pulled the Taiaha out of its sheath and gave it a once over before I sheathed it again. I put it across my back before I dug out my mask from my book bag and placed it over my eyes. Standing up, I looked down at Tyrus who glanced up at me curiously and said "Well, let's see how good of a level designer Taifun is. ID CREATE!"

END


	2. Chapter 2

2\. First Week

 **Humanity is always being tested.**

 _A small ship rocked in the waves created by a monstrous sea creature as it rose up out of the ocean depths, staring down at the insignificant Caravel for a moment before it roared and shot down at it. A moment later, it burst apart into several chunks as a shadowy swordsman sheathed his three swords._

 **Conflict and war is the crucible through which we evolve.**

 _Lines of soldiers wearing white shirts and blue pants roared as they raced down a massive bridge. In their path, a shadowy figure with two swords on his back and a spear in his right hand calmly stood under a large winged serpent, lines of shadowy figures standing just as calmly behind him. There was no uniform denoting their group, but ALL of them were united in their purpose against the Marines rushing towards them._

 **Every battle, makes us** _ **stronger**_ **!**

 _A shadowy figure in a straw hat stood over their defeated opponent slightly panting. After a moment, they turned away and shot a D shaped grin of light at the people standing the closest behind them. Similar grins of light appeared on their faces even as people further behind them in the rubble filled area began to loudly celebrate._

 **Those who fall will be forgotten.**

 _A group of people fell slowly to the floor. Among them was a person with a rather large nose, another with a sword at the end of each finger, a man with a tail, a rather large woman, and an almost just as big man wearing a captain's hat. As they hit the ground, the figures all became indistinct, before fading away._

 **Those who rise up, their names will be remembered forever.**

 _On an island at the end of a great but terrible ocean, a once empty throne was once more claimed. As the occupant's loyal followers joined them in looking back the way they had come, several ships of all sizes and shapes fired their cannons in salute, their black flags flapping wildly in the strong winds. A D shaped grin appeared on the figure's face as it laughed in the most joyful sound imaginable._

I jerked up from my air mattress, heart still beating like a drum as I looked around me after that unbelievably realistic dream, narrated by Doomfist from Overwatch of all things. Seeing the walls of the cave that I had been given by the island's inhabitants three days ago, I took a deep breath before I glanced over towards Tyrus who _appeared_ to be sleeping on his bed of warm coals. Appeared being the key word as he said without opening his eyes "Had an interesting dream I take it?"

"You could say that." I said before I closed my eyes as I yawned and pushed my fist against my back cracking the whole chain of vertebrae. Giving a content sigh, I opened my eyes and saw Tyrus finishing his own yawn and full spine crack, his understandably taking a moment more before he flapped his wings and began to hover over his bed as he said "So, shall we get to work?"

I nodded and as Tyrus flapped over to hover beside me, I looked 'up' into the upper left corner of my vision and blinked once at the icon of a diamond inside a square that was in my eyesight. The icon flashed once before a list of IDs came down, bold IDs showing what I had unlocked already, and faded out for ones that I would have to unlock by using the IDs 'below' them for a certain amount of time. It was just a shame that I couldn't spam ID Create and Escapes to help unlock them faster, a few near the end looked MIGHTILY useful.

 **Basic ID**

 **Cemetery ID**

 **Farmland ID**

 **Abandoned Town ID/** Abandoned City ID/Corruscant ID

 **Forest ID/** Rainforest ID/Kashyyyk ID

 **Swamp ID/** Dagobah ID

 **Savannah ID/** Dantoine ID

 **Desert ID/** Tattoine ID

 **Beach ID/** Ocean ID

 **Mountain ID/** Volcanic ID

 **Tundra ID/** Ice Field ID/Hoth ID

 **Coliseum ID (Random Enemy Waves)**

 **Time Dilation ID** , 2X/5X/10x/25X/50X/100X

 **Money Multiplier ID** , 2X/5X/10X/25X/50X/100X

I gave the money multiplier ID a slightly longing look before I turned my gaze back to the top and blinked at Cemetery ID. As the world around us faded into a massive cemetery with fog swirling ominously around my knees, I once more mused how while I COULD technically create my own ID by saying ID Create and a defining word, it'd probably be a long time outside of needing something like an interrogation room before I got bored enough with what I already had to try it out. Any further thought was halted as a hand burst out of the grave closest to me and a groaning zombie clawed its way out of what SHOULD have been its final resting place.

Well, it started to crawl anyway. As soon as its torso was fully out, a bolt of lightning just smaller than the width of my hand shot dangerously close to my chest as it passed in front of me before it hit its head which proceeded to explode like a watermelon shot with a high caliber bullet. I paused from pulling my Tiaha out of its sheath to give Tyrus a warning look causing him to give a sheepish shrug of his wings before he shot down into the fog and began hunting. Shaking my head with a sigh, I finished drawing my weapon and used the club part of the spear to crack open the skull of the next zombie as it tried to get out and make me join the legion of the brain eaters.

By that time multiple zombies had left their own graves out of immediate reach and began shambling towards me. I took a quick look around to see where the biggest group of zombies was before I went to the other side and broke through the ring, more worried about getting the rotting bodies out of the way then killing them before I reached the outside of the circle and spun around and killed the outliers before I began a slow and steady fighting retreat. It was a strategy that had served me well for the last few days: Don't get surrounded so I could always keep moving AWAY from the hoard of enemies and focus on taking down one at a time. When I got better at combat I was sure that I could probably just dive right into mobs like this without a problem. But until that time, I was going to play it like I was leveling up a weak character in my Fire Emblem games and play things safe.

Fifteen minutes later, I speared the last one between the eyes and took a deep breath as it began to break down like the Risen from Fire Emblem Awakening. Once it finished, I knelt and collected the bit of money and an 'eye of the zombie' on the ground that was apparently useful in a few potions. I put the loot in my currently empty bookbag before I then back tracked grabbing the rest of the loot that my enemies had dropped upon their second deaths. Fortunately for me, Taifun had made it so that the loot glowed a golden color so that way I could find it under the fog.

I had just picked up the loot item from my first kill, a 'Lv One Skeleton Key' (Must keep away from Nami!), when a ten foot wide twister shot up into the air about a thousand feet away. I flinched at the loud sound and stood up to watch as Zombies, dirt, and even a tombstone or two were sucked into the funnel of wind before it lit up from the inside with an electrical charge. After I had blinked the spots out of my eyes, I sighed and began walking towards the destruction. Once there, I found Tyrus blowing all of his gathered loot into one pile and said "Tyrus, you were supposed to work on individual combat, not area of effect attacks."

"But I was! I used an individual attack to end my combat." Tyrus said with a cheeky grin and I sighed before shaking my head. I gave the large pile of loot he had collected an evaluating look before I said "That HAS to be enough for us to finally get that small subspace pocket generator."

"I hope so, I'm getting tired of us having to leave these IDs in order to get some food." Tyrus said.

I let out a hum of agreement as I put a hand on the loot and exited the ID, bringing it with us to the 'real' world. Once back in our cave, I began sorting through the loot, putting the money on my tablet where it was absorbed with small flashes of light and, amusingly enough, cashier sounds. Once I had everything in proper piles, I began the process of putting whatever I didn't want up for sale on the trade forum, the items disappearing once I took a picture with the tablet's camera, which somehow gave the trade forum's delivery service people the coordinates they needed for pickup. That done, I checked in on the sales of the previous loot transactions and was pleased to see that most of them had been purchased already giving me a final amount of money that would easily allow me to buy the aforementioned subspace pocket generator and still 'splurge' a bit.

Said generator was a mix of magic and technology, or magitech for short that acted in a similar manner as the book bag of Pokemon games with a few extras added to it. It could store multiple copies of an item (Up to 99, again similar to Pokemon's bag) and had three hundred 'slots' but was damn near weightless meaning that it wouldn't feel like you were working out while carrying it no matter what you had in it. And the part that I REALLY liked, not only would be capable of linking up with my tablet for easy inventory keeping but also had a remote storage function that would allow me to 'acquire' anything within a five-foot radius of it.

I quickly went to the item in question on the forum and choose the one that I would start off with, giving only a quick glance at the one that had a whopping TEN THOUSAND slots that I didn't think I could ever truly put through enough use to justify the rather insane cost of the dang thing. Twenty minutes later, I had the generator set in the pouch of my book bag closest to my back and everything but my mattress, bedding, and a camp shower I had bought two days ago in it.

That done, I tapped my fingers against the side of my tablet in thought as I stared at my remaining balance before I blinked and grinned as a thought came to me. The whole reason why I had stuck with the Cemetery ID was because it was easy to deal with the slow zombies with only me and sometimes Tyrus helping out. But if I had more people in my 'party' then I could theoretically handle a lot of the more difficult opponents that I was sure were in the other IDs that much sooner. And what did I do in the Fire Emblem games when I needed more 'warm bodies' in my teams to help make up for low level units? Why I bought Einherjar of course!

Tapping the word into the trade forum's search bar, I was pleasantly surprised to see that not ONLY could I get Einherjar of ANY character of ANY series, but it was possible to make custom ones as well. Of course, quite a few of the 'higher level' characters shown in the 'popular' section had prices that were absolutely INSANE! Seriously, a 'canon' Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki was a whopping SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS! I let out a wince as I saw that one before I cocked my head and typed in Kushina Uzumaki in the Einherjar section's search bar and raised an eyebrow at how there were TWO distinct separations, Jinchurikki and Non-Jinchurikki, the non demon fox carrying version of the two substantially cheaper than the other, though still incredibly expensive. Didn't stop me from marking an adult version for my wish list though, she was one of my favorite female Naruto characters after all. I blamed the incredibly long hair, her unique chakra chains, and sealing abilities for that one.

Moving on from that, I selected a much more reasonable price range of five to two hundred dollars and looked through the 'lower level' options available. A minute later, my frown of concentration turned into a grin of delight as I looked at what was going to be my first Einherjar. I had at the very least watched the full first season of NCIS Las Angeles and NICIS New Orleans, but my REAL favorite was and would always be the original NCIS. I had seen all of the episodes for seasons one through thirteen and was working, if somewhat slowly, through season fourteen. I had the first twelve seasons on DVD and the last two on my phone. Hell, I had even gone looking for Gibbs' complete set of rules when I was bored once. On the practical side, it would probably be better learning Marine CQC rather than Mossad's Krav Maga since I was nowhere NEAR flexible enough for some of the kicks the show had showed Ziva doing. So with that said, my first choice was obvious, tempting as it was to go straight for Ziva, I'd rather start at the proverbial top.

I selected Gibbs and only took a few seconds to raise an eyebrow at a 'outfit selection' option before I ignored it and tapped on the 'canon' version. There was a quick tutorial about how to activate and deactivate the Einherjar before an amusing warning of 'Ignore Gibbs' rules at your own risk.' appeared on the screen before there was a flash and a card just about an inch taller than a standard trading card appeared on top of the screen. Picking it up, I studied the serious look the image on the top half of the card gave me before I mentally activated the card and flicked it shuriken style away from me. There was another bright flash as the magic of the card activated and standing before me in all of his glory was THE Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

The veteran Marine took in his surroundings with an expert eye before he looked back at me and Tyrus, the winged serpent merely earning a slightly raised eyebrow before he shifted the look to me and said "Well this is different. What's the situation boss?"

I sat down on the cave floor and said "You might want to get comfortable Marine, this could take a while." Gibbs gave the cave floor a wry look but didn't hesitate to mimic my actions as I said "I think I'll start off with asking if you know what the multi-verse theory is."

"Whatever can happen has happened in worlds similar but different to our own, right?" Gibbs asked and I nodded and said "Pretty much, alright, here's what happened."

Two hours after I had explained the world we were in and the highlights of what had happened in the story, Gibbs leaned forward and said "Let me see if I've got all of this straight. We're currently in a world where what we would class as superhuman is the norm and there's people who take that even further. We'll be fighting these people when you join a pirate crew who would rather have adventures then the stereotypical loot, pillage, and kill, and in fact the only REAL crime they committed was storming a government stronghold in order to save one of their own who was the only survivor when said government had her island wiped off the map. Said government is highly corrupt with a bunch of stuck up nobles able to get away with whatever they want and an almost as bad Navy and Marine corps enforcing their rule. You've got just under three months to get your body in shape and become combat capable before you are to leave this island to join this crew but you have NO idea at what point of the timeline you know you are at or if you are even in the same 'version' that you know meaning that most of your SPECIFIC knowledge is either highly useful at best or completely useless at worst. Your plan for preparing for this unknown future is to amass as much money as you can in order to provide 'out of the box' equipment and so you plan to buy more of us Einherjar in order to both help you earn loot faster and also help you become combat capable. Did I get everything?"

"Well you forgot the fact that there's a 99.99% chance that the captain of the crew will become the second Pirate King after one hell of a ride but yeah, pretty much." I said with a shrug.

"I need a coffee." Gibbs said before he took a sip of said hot beverage causing me and Tyrus to jerk in surprise with wide eyes as we tried to figure out how the hell he got said cup when it sure as hell WASN'T in his hand a second ago. Gibbs had a not quite smug smirk on his face as he took a deep drink. When he was done, his cup somehow vanished again even though we were both looking at it before he stood up and there was a brief pulse of what I could only assume was magic and he was in full tactical gear as he said "Well no point just lounging around here, the sooner we get started the sooner I can see what I have to work with."

I gave a shrug and said "Sure, I want to get enough money to buy one of the lower level lance users anyway, see if they can offer me any tips for my Tiaha." Standing up, I made sure my book bag was secure before I sent us back to the cemetery.

Time Skip: Five Days After Arrival

It's really amazing what a multiplier having Einherjar can be, especially when said Einherjar are based on a 'real life' team that is used to working with each other for years. Oh sure, since I had ALL of Team Gibbs with me rather than just the 'current' line up there were some pretty interesting times at first, but overall the team had really helped me rack in the loot. Of course, the MRT wasn't the only NCIS Einherjar I got, the full roster was as follows: Gibbs, Dinozzo, McGee, Kate, Ziva, Bishop, Vance, Shepherd, Abby, Ducky, Palmer. Admittedly, the last three were simply to 'complete the set', and mostly had remained in the card holder I kept on the right side of my belt while the rest of us were going after zombies and the creatures of the other 'beginner' IDs, but that's beyond the point.

NCIS wasn't the only franchise I drew from. Yesterday I had switched from the 'modern crime' genre to the fantasy genre and started buying Fire Emblem Einherjar. I started with Donnel from Awakening and Amelia from Sacred Stones. The two lance users gave me a relatively quick lesson in how to use my spear and then we were all right back into the action. After we got a substantial amount of loot an hour later I went a little purchase crazy and bought a bunch of the 'lords' of the franchise in order to give us a wide coverage of combat skills. The final Fire Emblem tally last night had been as follows: From Awakening, there was Donnel, Chrom, Lissa, Robin (Female just because I could), and Lucina. From Sacred Stones: Amelia, Franz (Who I had ALWAYS partnered with her in the games as a spear point team), Eirika, Ephraim, Tana, Innes, L'arachel, Lyon, and Joshua. From the 'original' English version of Fire Emblem I grabbed Lyndis, Eliwood, and Hector. Echoes saw Alm and Celica joining us while Radiant Dawn had Elincia and Ike. Finally I got both Nohr and Hoshido's prince and princess groups from Fates: Xander, Leo, Camilla, Elise, Corrin (Again female just because I could), Azura, Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, and Sakura.

Needless to say, with thirty-nine combat Einherjar backing me and Tyrus, we got a LOT of loot today when we did the Coliseum ID for the first time. I had enough money after the eight hours in there that I could buy a second, slightly smaller subspace pocket generator for the card holster I had bought for the Einherjar, a small solar energy collector/power strip so that way I wouldn't have to constantly wind up the small hand held generator Taifun had given me when I first arrived, a pair of Ironwood swords along with a pair of kukri knives made of the same material that I planned to learn how to use in one and two months respectively and so kept in my inventory, and just a little bit of reading material to round it all out.

Said reading material was a pair of books written by one Riskua Mihawk, World's Greatest Haki Expert and a reincarnated self-insert that author Tsume Yuki had brought to my attention with her story Tell It To The Marines. I had been rather pleasantly surprised when their character HAD had literature available for purchase showing that YES, the stories I had read before really did happen in this marvelous multiverse I was now part of. Said books were titled 'The Origins of Haki' and 'Theories of Haki'.

I currently had all of the Einherjar out and most of them were exploring the island with Tyrus and a few of his friends acting as guides. I personally was trudging my way through the appropriately titled Theories book, the information inside reading more like a high-end physics book than a book for beginners. Thankfully I had enough background info from my previous One Piece readings that I could assimilate the information with a minimal amount of trouble. Though I DID make a note to myself ten pages in to see if there was a 'For Dummies' version once I finished reading these two if only for Luffy and Zoro's sake. Abby was currently sitting beside me going through the Origins book with a glee only a goth forensic scientist could have, Ducky and Palmer both impatiently waiting for their own turns at the book even as they discussed medicine with the healers of the Fire Emblem group.

I was just getting into the part that discussed Haki's applications in accelerating healing times when Abby suddenly said "Hey Matt, I noticed you bought several close range weapons, but do you have a plan for long range?"

I blinked once before looking up at her and said "Not really, I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to give me a gun any time soon since I need to learn how to properly use not only my Tiaha but sword and knife fighting as well. And while I did earn a couple of Archery and BB Riflery merit badges when I was a scout, my aim was never really anything to write home about. It'd probably be better if I stayed away from ranged weaponry so that way I can avoid friendly fire."

Abby grinned at me and said "That's a pretty good point, but let me counter that there's more to long range than just guns and bows. For instance, you could use one of these little beauties!" And with that she pulled out her taser with the same flourish a master would use to pull a sheet off their latest masterpiece for an audience of eager fans.

I blinked again at the sight of the defensive weapon and said "You know, it's been so long since I've seen an episode where you use it I honestly forgot you carry one of those everywhere you go."

Abby let out a chuckle and said "That's because everyone's learned not to mess with me."

"Right." I said with a roll of my eyes before I brought out my tablet and made a note to look over tasers in the trade forum tomorrow, adding a stunner to the note as well after a moment's consideration. After all, Abby was right, just because I was worried about potential friendly fire didn't mean I shouldn't have a weapon later on that could instantly drop an enemy, and Tasers WERE to the best of my knowledge one shot weapons. That done, I went back to my reading, wondering if I could possibly have any of these Haki skills down enough for proper use before I had to leave the island. The Concealment Haki alone would be EXTREMELY useful if I did.

That night as I slept on my mattress, I dreamed of a shadowy figure with a D shaped grin of light laughing as it ran through a forest of soap bubble producing mangrove trees, several other figures happily chasing them.

END

Author's Notes: Whew, working all but one night of the week is exhausting. Now then, show of hands, how many of you guys guessed that Gibbs was going to be my first Einherjar? Though I guess given how many times I reference him in my other stories it really shouldn't have been a surprise that I would get him at some point. Honestly, I was planning on this chapter to cover the first month but then Gibbs gave me that look of his and I had to give him more screen time on pain of head slap. And then Abby butted in with her puppy eyed look. (Which was promptly ruined when she took a sip of her Caf-Pow.) Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter, this is Tac out.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. Getting Ready Part One

During The First Month

The day after my little talk with Abby, once our grinding was done for the day, I further added to my arsenal. I now had a taser in a horizontal holster over my right buttock while a Wraith stunner from the Stargate Atlantis series was over my left. I went with that orientation because if I accidently hit a friendly with my off hand than it wouldn't be as bad as if I wasted a shot with the taser which I currently had a single fire version with plans to buy a rewinding magi-tech version after I got some more spending money.

Fortunately for me, I had a Massod officer to help me get up my accuracy when firing with both hands. Ziva had me create an actual firing range ID and we would spend half an hour in it everyday using the ID provided practice guns that fired plastic balls at the targets rather than the two prongs or energy blast of the taser and stunner respectively. She was a harsh task master to be sure, but her lessons were also effective so I held the couple of complaints I had to myself.

Gibbs was worse for the half hour he had me each day. He and Leon had me in a boxing ring ID pounding some hand to hand combat skills into my thick skull. I think I 'tasted floor' more times in the first week of HtH training than I did in all of my years of beginner Karate training. At least Leon let me stay on my feet for longer than thirty seconds during _his_ half hour, the boxer giving me advice during our fights rather than _after_ while I was groaning on the mat.

Honestly, I think I was starting to prefer fighting hoards of enemies for a couple of hours at a time rather than getting in the ring with the Gunny. At least _they_ had the decency of dying at the end of our fight. Not to mention I was making steady progress on ID leveling up. Within a week and a half of constant ID creation I had managed to 'level up' Abandoned Town to Abandoned City, the enemies going from 'Small zombie outbreak' and feral cats and dogs to 'Zombie Apocalypse' and 'That is one BIG alligator.' On top of getting 'better' opponents, for a certain definition of the word, I had also managed to get the x2 multiplier for money which meant that I was going to be able to buy a whole lot more gear if I kept up my current pace. (The thought of putting Nami in an orgasmic coma after letting her spend a day in the 100 times money multiplier had me cackling when I first got that little bonus feature.)

Speaking of gear, I decided to put my nose less polarized swimming mask to proper use. As soon as I had four thousand dollars to spare, I used the trade forum to give it a major magitech upgrade. After I had made my selections, I had placed the mask on the tablet and an hour later got it back with three raised bump 'buttons' added onto it, the right side bump gave me night vision, the bump in the middle of the mask gave me Backscatter, or a multispecturm overlay for the techies out there. (Basically a grey scale x ray vision from the Marvel universe), and the last bump on the left side gave me infrared, or heat vision, and _boy_ did I have fun with those! I was acting like a kid locked in a toy store overnight for a full hour before I finally managed to get myself back to work, much to Tyrus' amusement.

Speaking of Tyrus, after a particularly bad natural storm passed over part of the island three weeks in and promptly became Quetzalcoatl chow for the island residents, he had gained a couple of feet and was now six feet long. His storm generation and other abilities had gotten a slight boost though he had to relearn how to be as efficient as he had been before. But need to rework his abilities or not, the tornado he made inside of the Abandoned City ID the day after the storm had been nothing short of impressive, the funnel of wind blowing out all of the windows of the buildings around it and using the broken glass to absolutely SHRED everything caught in it. It had been a very good thing that he had told me to get to cover before he had tried it because the sound of that much glass pinging off of the quickly raised barriers from my clerics was downright nightmare inducing.

Haki was a slow but steady progress during the first month. I could, with some trouble now, observe everything in a ten foot radius though doing so gave me the mother of all migraines to process because to reiterate, I observed EVERYTHING around me in that distance. There was a surprising amount of life underground. I had to work on limiting just what I was observing before I could expand my reach. Armament was actually easier in comparison since I was working on my body only at the moment. I had actually managed to get either a full two fingers coated in the black stuff or all of the last joints of the five fingers on one hand, though I could only hold it that configuration for half a minute after slowly getting all five joints black. Still, that was pretty damn good in my book and I had let out a cheer when I could do it ten times in a row. Surprisingly enough, the Concealment Haki Riskua had pioneered was actually the easiest for me to figure out. I could keep that up for a solid five minutes now if I wasn't doing anything more strenuous then walking around. I attributed that to how I wasn't really much of a social butterfly, tending to observe from a distance rather than be a part of social gatherings. (Something which would always drive my family mad during family reunions.)

As we entered month two, I moved onto getting a proper instructor for how to use my two Ironwood swords. To that end, I bought some more Einherjar, more specifically, I bought some Sword Art Online Einherjar: Kirito (Who took a rather LARGE chunk of my funds), Asuna (Almost as bad as her boyfriend), Sinon, Leafa, and Lisbeth, all four of them capable of switching between real life and virtual reality 'skins'. I got Kirito for obvious reasons and Asuna was his partner so obviously she had to be bought as well. Sinon I felt would be a good match with Gibbs in any fights that required sniper support, both in her GGO and ALO forms and I got Lisbeth because I thought she could help Ussop and Franky with their weapon designs down the road. To complete the set I bookmarked Klein, Silica, and after some mild contemplation Yui and Yuuki as well.

Which lead me to my current situation: Busted lip, bruises down both of my arms and on my chest from where I hadn't blocked properly, and one hell of a bruise on my right thigh. And this was from only ten minutes of 'fighting'! Letting out a groan as Lissa attended to my wounds with her healing staff, I shook my head at Kirito who was in his RL skin of 'Kazuto Kirigaya' and said "Was it really necessary to go so rough on me for an evaluation fight? I had already told you that I had never used a sword before."

"Yes." Kirito said as he put his sheathed blades back on his back before crossing his arms and said "Matt, you are currently in a world where 'superhuman' isn't the outlier, it's the norm when compared to what you are used to, and you only have two months before you enter the wider world, with only a month dedicated to learning how to wield not one but _two_ swords before you 'move on' to learning how to use those knives of yours. That means that you have to get as good as possible as fast as possible. You can't do that if you can't see where that bench mark is and thus know what to work towards."

"You sure you don't just feel like Matt is mocking your preferred form of combat since he won't be using live steel and so deserves a beating?" Lissa asked a little snappishly as she worked on my injuries.

Kirito frowned at Lissa and said "Even if I did think planning to use only wood swords, no matter how hard said wood is, was a big mistake, I would not needlessly assault our Guild Leader like that. Need I remind you that he is going to be traveling in a world where being able to slice large ships in half with a single swing of a weapon is actually considered a bench mark for swordsmen rather than legendary feats?"

Lissa opened her mouth only to close it as I said "Enough you two, fighting won't get us anywhere. As much as I don't want to admit it, Kirito does have a point Lissa. Even if I'm planning on augmenting my blades with Haki in the serious fights, that doesn't change the fact that I will need to get as much training in their use as possible in this month. If that means needing healing after every session then so be it. If nothing else it'll get my pain tolerance higher."

Lissa bit her lip with a troubled look in her eyes before sighing as she said "Very well Matt, but I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it, just accept it." Kirito said in a much softer tone of voice before he went into teacher mode and said "Now, let's see if we can't get some muscle memory started…"

Time Skip: Two Weeks Into Sword Training

The sharp clacking sound of wood hitting wood rang throughout the Dojo ID we were currently in. My two Ironwood swords were constantly moving as I pushed my Observation Haki to its limit trying to keep up with Kirito. My arms trembled and sang a dirge of exhaustion as I constantly used every ounce of my strength to hold off the Black Swordsman's assault. Kirito was a powerhouse, whether in his RL skin or one of his virtual ones and I was dreading the day when he decided I was good enough to handle his Sword Art Online or Gun Gale Online forms, never mind when he goes all the way up to ALfheim Online.

Still, I could not argue with the results of Kirito's training methods. In the two weeks of hell I had so far endured I had went from a newbie who had to swing only one sword at a time in order to not hit them against each other or lose my balance to being able to semi confidently use both at the same time. It would take a LONG time after I joined up with the Straw Hats before I would be anywhere close to being a 'competent' swordsman by this world's standards but that was why I had Einherjar and soon Time Dilation IDs to help me train.

Kirito and I weren't the only ones training in the Dojo ID though. Tyrus and a thirty foot long Quetzalcoatl with no less then ten pairs of wings were working through a set of straw and wooden training dummies outside of the double doors. The elder Feathered Serpent was showing my partner how to use his currently single pair of wings as semi bladed and blunt weapons so that he wouldn't have to rely completely on his storm related abilities. If the complaint I heard during a short break about not being able to move his wings for the next decade followed by a cheerful reply of him now having two clubs to brain his enemies with was any indication, then the teacher was definitely enjoying the lesson more than the student was.

When we finally finished for the day I greedily gulped down three bottles of water one after the other before Celica gave my arms a quick look over. The redhead tisked to herself as she repaired a few minor strains but otherwise gave me a clean bill of health. She was much more concerned when ten minutes later Tyrus tiredly slid over to where we were sitting and curled onto her lap, yes slid, not flew. Giving his teacher a reprimanding look, she said "Shifu, did you really have to be so rough on him?"

The light brown serpent with reddish stripes and white wings gave the queen a cheerful grin and said "But of course, you can't get anything meaningful in life without a bit of effort. After all, if you're just given something than how can you appreciate the value of it?"

Celica sighed but didn't make a retort and instead focusing on healing Tyrus' wings causing the young Quetzalcoatl to sigh in relief and seemingly melt into a puddle in her lap earning a small giggle from the kind woman. I merely shook my head at the sight and slowly worked on my fourth bottle of water, Kirito chuckling a little as he drank from his first and only bottle.

Once Celica was finished healing Tyrus I ended the ID only to blink when I saw Ziva pacing inside of my cavern room. Cocking my head at her, I said "Ziva, is something wrong?"

The Mossad operative didn't so much as twitch towards me, the she-ninja probably having detected me the moment I ended the ID. She took another five steps before she began speaking as she walked and said "I do not like the thought of us helping pirates Matt. I thought I could get used to the idea of it but it's been bugging me more and more this past week."

I blinked again and said "You never gave any indication of this bothering you before."

"Mossad agents are very well trained in hiding what they think." Ziva said as she stopped pacing and turned to face us.

"Mossad agents or the daughter of the head of Mossad?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Both." Ziva said with rolled eyes before she sighed and said "I'm sorry, I know that these aren't your typical pirates, wanting adventure rather than to loot and pillage but I just can't…"

When she trailed off with an expressive hand gesture, I sighed and said "I really should have considered this when I was deciding on which Einherjar to buy." Moving over to a camp chair, I pointed at another one and Ziva dragged it opposite mine before she sat down. Celica and Kirito looked between us before they quickly left the cave to give us some privacy, Shifu soon following them. Tyrus glanced out the cave exit for a moment before seemingly deciding that he would rather listen to the conversation and settled on his stone bed.

I didn't pay him much mind as I asked "Have you talked to Gibbs about this?" At the negative shake of her head I sighed and said "Ziva, I want you to first know that I do understand where you are coming from. Your story is not a happy one filled with flowers, rainbows, and puppies. Losing your sister to terrorists, being held captive by another, even being forced to kill your own half-brother and everything else you have had happen to you, it's a rather large simplification to say that you have had a rough life." I waited just long enough for Ziva to nod before I continued "That life has taught you to fight against the world's darkness, to right any and all wrongs you come across. And given the standard definition of what a pirate is, when I think about it for even a moment, it's no wonder that you would not be comfortable with your boss not only agreeing to join a pirate crew but actively planning on giving them so many advantages against everyone else, including the hard earned skills that you and your team members have to offer." I took a quick sip from my water bottle before I capped it and leaned forwards as I said "However, the Straw Hats are NOT your standard pirates. They don't make a habit of going around razing towns to the ground, looting and killing as they go. They don't target ships on the high waters civilian or military without a damn good reason. And the only reason why they fly a black flag is for the freedom it gives them. In fact, in the show and manga they are almost the exact opposite of pirates and have done more good than the supposed heroes of this world the Marines and World Government. The Straw Hats in the source material have saved no less than eleven heavily populated regions with several smaller areas as well from destruction. They have fought corrupt officials, braved fleets of battle ships, and stood against those with the powers of elemental gods, simply because it was the right thing to do. In short, there is no one else I'd rather have watching my back in this messed up world." Standing up, I walked the few steps separating us and put my hand on Ziva's shoulder as I said "And when you meet them, then you'll rather quickly learn to trust them as well."

"Let us hope that you are right Matthew." Ziva said with a pensive look in her eyes and I gave her a nod before I removed my hand and went to grab my 3DS for some relaxation time now that the serious bit seemed over. Ziva soon left the cavern, most likely to either consider my words in private or talk with Gibbs and it was just me and my napping partner in the cave.

End

Author's Notes: Update Schedule is on my profile.

(Explosive Sigh) Man, I've had a rough couple of months. We STILL don't have a second night shift maintenance worker to replace my former coworker who shifted positions so I have been pretty much working a full time job rather than part time, and it is EXHAUSTING. I am soo glad that this didn't happen during my new years resolution period because I would not have met it.

Enough bellyaching about the real world though. I see one _maybe_ two more chapters before I leave the island. I WAS planning on getting that all done in this chapter but then Ziva all but dragged me into the elevator and flicked the switch to put it in serious conversation mode. I honestly hadn't considered how a bunch of 'navy cops' would feel about their new boss joining a group of pirates until I started typing that conversation. Hopefully it doesn't come off as filler since I think it is actually a conversation that really did need to be had.

One last thing, the winner of the future story poll is The Pirate King's Tailor, winning at twenty seven votes to College Roommates and Jack O Lantern's five a piece. Now there's an important poll up dealing with said Transformers Prime story which will heavily influence it when I get to it after finishing a Flesh to Metal version so please look at it.


	4. Chapter 4

4\. Final Month And Heading Out

AKA Finishing The Roster

Author's Notes: The first part is a bit Self Insert indulgence I will admit but consider what Einherjar actually are.

Story Start: Beginning of the Third Month, Dojo ID

My latest two 'acquisitions' were kneeling in front of me. Silque from Fire Emblem: Echoes of Valentia and Maribelle from Fire Emblem: Awakening. When it came to medics who could easily keep the enemies away while they were healing the front liners over multiple turns, these two women had been my non-royalty go to magic users. And given just how often we were going to be dealing with the aftermath of army level combat I thought it a prudent decision to buy their Einherjar cards.

Silque and Maribelle weren't the only Einherjar here though. Every female I had added to my team was also kneeling in front of my chair, on padded mats that the ID had provided for them in five rows of five behind the two. This had less to do with them technically being my subordinates and more with the fact that there were now twenty-seven of them. I had called them all for a meeting and they had finished gathering five minutes ago upon which I had created the ID. Now most of them were trading confused looks and talking with each other as they tried to figure out why I hadn't asked any of the males to join us and if the two newbies had anything to do with it.

I finally gave up on trying to put what I wanted to ask delicately and gave a deep sigh as I said "Ladies, do you promise not to try and beat me up if I ask you a question you might find offensive?"

There were more questioning looks. Maribelle was the one who answered as she cocked her head and said "You purchased us in order to aid you My Lord, if that aid requires you to ask us a question, then we will answer it regardless of whether we would be offended or not."

Silque nodded and said "We are also programed in a manner that prevents us from assaulting you outside of training My Lord." She then cocked her head as well and said "Pardon me for the assumption My Lord, but I would have believed that you would have already known this given this large number of other Einherjar you purchased before Maribelle and I."

I held back the urge to frown at their form of addressing me. Two months in and I still wasn't quite comfortable with how the Fire Emblem Einherjar addressed me. The NCIS group calling me Boss was fine, Lord just made me feel awkward for some reason. Shaking my head from those thoughts, I said "Alright, I might as well just dive in then. Let's be honest here, I bought all of you and the guys for one simple reason: This world is crazier than an art gallery painted by the Tazmanian Devil in full twister mode, and as such, I want as much backup for me, Tyrus, and the Straw Hats as possible because we WILL be taking on armies down the line. However, the next Einherjar that I plan to buy is a bit different. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if she's not my favorite female character, then she's definitely in the top three, and if given the chance, I would love to be more than just her commander. However, I can't help but feel like that would be abusing her, abusing Einherjar in general." I rubbed my head with a sigh and said "Basically, I'm asking you ladies what you think about me buying this Einherjar as a companion rather than a soldier."

I had the dubious pleasure of seeing the unusual sight of twenty-seven women blinking once together before looking at me like I was a Luffy-grade idiot. And then I was completely floored as Caitlin Todd of all people stood up from her position three rows in, walked over to my chair and tilted my head up for a surprise kiss. My eyes widened at her actions and when she pulled back a few seconds later, I asked incredulously "Kate?!" The unasked 'What the HELL' was obvious in that one word.

Smirking down at me, Kate said "We are Einherjar Matt, made for the sole purpose of fulfilling whatever role our owners require of us. If you wanted us to, we would ALL be your companions, and we would do so happily."

I blinked a few more times at that before I said "So I made myself a Potential Mega Harem without even realizing it. Guess that's one thing I'm never telling Sanji, even if the End of the World is literally a minute away."

Kate laughed at that before she went back to her position among the others. Once she was seated, Abby grinned from next to her and said "Enough pussy footing Matt! Let's meet this kick ass top pick already!"

Seeing all of the other ladies in my mini army nod their agreement, I shrugged and pulled out my tablet. Opening the Shop program, I pulled up my wish list and brought up the first entry. Seeing the face of the Einherjar calmly looking back at me, I took a moment to just study it before I took in a deep breath and hit 'Purchase'. Kushina's Einherjar card appeared and I studied the determined look she had on her face before I closed my eyes, concentrated on why I bought her, then flicked the card out. The card shot between Maribelle and Silque before it activated and there was a red-haired woman in the standard Hidden Leaf Village Jounin outfit standing before me, long red hair in a ponytail over the knot of her headband with a pair of bangs framing the metal plate.

Kushina studied me for a moment, her eyes flicking at each of my weapons then took in all of the women around her. Looking back at me with a raised eyebrow, she said "I don't know whether to be amused at the fact you obviously like to surround yourself with beautiful women or worry about how you seem to be compensating for something with all of those weapons."

That got some of the other women snorting or snickering while a few of the others outright laughed loudly. Abby and Kate in particular were giggling messes. As for myself, I snorted and shook my head before I said "These aren't the only Einherjar I've purchased, just the female ones that I needed to talk to about your own purchase."

"Oh?" Kushina asked with a raised eyebrow. From her position directly behind Maribelle, Tana hopped up and whispered in Kushina's ear. Kushina's eyebrow stayed raised for a moment before she brought her hand up to her mouth and laughed before she shook her head and looked at me with a grin as she said "My, aren't you such a considerate owner."

I rolled my eyes and said "Yeah, yeah, the others already said I was being an idiot." Standing up from my chair, an action that the rest of the Einherjar followed, I canceled the current ID and said "I'll let Abby catch you up on what's going on and introducing the others. Right now Tyrus and I have some personal time scheduled."

"Tyrus?" Kushina asked with another raised eyebrow only for Tyrus to say right over head "Yo." Kushina jerked in surprise and took a step back as her head snapped upwards with a glowing chakra chain out and posed like a ready to strike viper. Tyrus looked at her in a decidedly unimpressed manner before he turned to me and flicked his head at the redhead and said " _That's_ the one you've been saving up so much money for? A little skittish, isn't she?"

I snorted and said "You suddenly 'appeared' right overhead without warning Tyrus, give her a break." Turning serious, I said "Are you ready?"

Tyrus gained a grin that I had rather quickly learned came to mean _pain_ for someone else as he said "Ready to take on a bunch of Yetis hopped up on steroids? You bet I am." He quickly flapped over and settled onto my shoulders as he said "Come on, let's go already!"

Chuckling, I said "Alright, alright, hold your horses." The last thing the gathered Einherjar heard as I activated the Hoth Id was Tyrus asking "Why would I hold a horse?"

Time Skip: One Week Later

Coruscant ID

Money Multipliers 2X and 5X Activated

Time Dilation 2X Activated.

This place was a mad house. All of my combat Einherjar were busy fighting off waves of enemies that came from every damn direction. We had been caught flat footed on a giant bridge between skyscrapers when the ID had decided "I know, I'll just send everything I've got at them all at once!" Land bound aliens came running across the bridge at us, flying aliens flew at us from above and below. Droids fired their blasters from up above and Geonosians and _somethings_ that were pretty much just flying buzz saws of tentacles and teeth were trying to knock Tyrus and my few Pegasus riders out of the sky along with rip them to shreds.

I stabbed a feral looking Zabrak in the gut with my Tiaha in my right hand while my left came up with a haki infused Kukri knife and slammed into the top of his head. Despite being made of Iron Wood, the knife dug into his head and the alien soon broke apart as it was 'killed' leaving loot behind. I didn't have time to see what it was though due to one of the Droids General Grevious had employed as bodyguards came in, electro pike whirring as it spun towards my head. I blocked the opening strike only for a glowing chain to wrap around the pike and then throw the droid over the bridge way.

"I had that." I said unhappily as Kushina slipped into the spot next to me.

"I'm sure you did honey." Kushina said with a sweet smile even as a multitude of chains shot out of her front and shredded the first three rows of our rushing enemies. As she drew back the chains, she grinned and said "You take me to the nicest places Matt."

I snorted and said "We'll need the funds for later and _I_ need the training. Besides, I don't hear you complaining."

Kushina grinned as we began fighting the aliens who had rushed in to fill the gap and said "It IS nice to be able to cut loose without all of the baggage of killing living beings." Her grin grew as she continued "And we even get money and loot for it!"

I knocked a jumping Gungan that for some reason had been yodeling while brandishing an ax out of the sky and literally stomped its head in with my for a moment shiny black foot as I said "Glad you like it so much."

Our conversation would have continued but Tyrus finally seemed to have gotten tired of trying to keep his wings attached to his body as he shouted "ENOUGH!" The next instant, lightning surged out of his body clearing the sky in a fifty foot sphere around him and lightning rained down first one side of the bridge then the other before he fired streams of electricity at the buildings where the last few droids that my mages hadn't yet hit with spells had been hiding. A few moments later, all of the enemy flyers were dealt with and I blinked in the silence for a moment before my expression fell flat as I saw a lot of money and loot fluttering in the air, most of it falling down into the abyss of the planet wide city. Sighing, I said "And there goes about a million dollars' worth of cash and items."

Tyrus let out an aggravated snort as he came down next to me and said "Well I'm sorry about that, but they were all starting to PISS me off!"

"Ah, don't worry Tyrus, we won't let the meanies bother you again." Kushina said sweetly as she patted his side.

"Bite me woman." Tyrus said back as he jerked out of her reach, currently grumpy due to having been fighting in the air for a solid thirty minutes during that fight.

" _Touchy_." Kushina said even as she grinned.

I rolled my eyes and said "Alright guys, grab what you can real quick then lets get off this bridge before the ID starts spawning more enemies."

"Yes Sir!" the other Einherjar quickly replied and cash and loot were quickly stored in bookbags that all of us were carrying that were linked to my Subspace Pocket Inventory. (And hadn't that been a handy little bit of spell work to buy a month ago at fifty dollars a rune tag?) Once we had gathered everything on the bridge, we quickly got off and out of the mild but constantly blowing wind in the large area and spit up as we entered the nearby buildings.

As I entered a building with Kushina and Tyrus, my partner cocked his head and said "By the way Kushina, I've noticed you only used your chains today and none of your jutsu or shinobi tools, why is that?"

Kushina shrugged and said "Just a personal challenge I guess."

I snorted and said "Yeah, because she likes to 'swing' in and steal my kills."

"Ooh, witty." Kushina said teasingly while sticking out her tongue. I _tried_ to snatch said tongue but well, Jounin. That had her laughing before she snapped to dead serious in an instant as a chain snapped out and speared an alien that tried to ambush us from above. All talk ended at that point as we began clearing the floor of the building we were on and the next five above it, a procedure I had long since worked out with my 'veteran' Einherjar.

Time Skip: One Week

Forrest ID

Money Multiplier 2X, 5X, 10X

Time Dilation 2X, 5X

The intermittent sound of gunfire mixed with the whine of a single energy pistol rang out in the forest. My latest, and for the moment, last group of Einherjar were shooting at anything that moved along with the NCIS MRT (Main Response Team). Said latest group of Einherjar was from the Stargate Universe, Atlantis to be more specific. They were: John Shephard, Aiden Ford, Rodney McKay, Ronan Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Samantha Carter, and just because I felt like her diplomacy skills could be needed and she could help Robin with translations, Elizabeth Weir. Elizabeth currently wasn't in the ID, instead learning as much about the Quetzalcoatl culture as she could. The rest of the group though was here, most of them working with the others on loot acquisition. The last two, Samantha Carter and John Shepherd were inside the perimeter circle the two groups had made. This was because these two were the whole reason I had even bought the last group.

See, I had no clue at what point in the time line I was currently at, and as such, I didn't know what island the first Navigational Point would be set to, all I knew was that I was currently in the East Blue. While this ocean was no where near as whacky as the Grand Line, that was STILL a lot of water to cross, no matter which island I was sent to. So, in the interest of not missing my meeting with the Straw Hats due to boats just being slow, I had decided that I was going to buy an aircraft. However, I did not know how to fly an aircraft. The answer to my dilemma was simple, buy an Einherjar that knew how to fly. Naturally I chose one of my favorite series to draw on and bought John Shepherd, then I said "Ah screw it" and bought the rest of his team along with his two female commanders, Elizabeth for the afore mentioned reasons and Sam because she too was a pilot and it never hurt to have another person who knew how to shoot a gun.

Right now, the three of us were huddled over my tablet looking over all of the aircraft the Multi-Verse Trade Forum could offer. Would it have been better to do this outside of the ID? Yeah, but given the time dilation was up and we had already been in here for three hours, we might as well decide what we were going to get during a break. Unfortunately, a Puddle Jumper was out, they were just too darn expensive! Seriously, Non-Jnichuuriki Kushina was my most expensive purchase yet at a whopping five million dollars, and even that seemed like small change compared to the THREE BILLION DOLLARS that one of those would have cost. In comparison, a Huey Helicopter was only a 'measly' Twenty Million Dollars. A Chinook was in the Thirty Eight and a Half Million ball park while an Osprey went for Seventy Two Point One Million Dollars. Clearly, we were going to have to kick up our loot grinding over the last two weeks we were here. I foresaw much 'experience' gained in the money multiplier and time dilation parts of my ID creation skill.

"Well, it's no 302 but the Chinook seems like the best option. Got a nice long range and is roughly half as expensive as an Osprey." John said as he studied the tablet.

"I agree, we shouldn't spend anymore than we have to on a vehicle that isn't going to see much use once we're on the Straw Hats ship." Sam said with a nod.

"Right, and it'd allow me to buy a few wizard's tents for expanded space on the ship as well." I said in agreement.

"Guess we ought to get back to shooting at things then." John said as he stood up and made sure he had a fresh ammo clip in his P-90. Sam and I also stood up and we rejoined the others. It was going to be a LOOOONG two weeks. Once we were up, the two fire teams regrouped and we began actively hunting again.

Time Skip: Morning Of Departure

As sunlight entered the cave that had been my bedroom for the last three months I opened my eyes and gave out a large yawn. The sound drew a sleepy mumble from the body wrapped in my arms and I smiled down at Kushina's sleeping form. We hadn't done anything beyond kissing and cuddling with each other and we always slept in shirt and pant pjs but the time where I had actually had a girlfriend, no matter how technical said relationship was, had been surprisingly enjoyable.

Always someone who woke up early but liked to sleep in for a bit, Tyrus, eyes still closed while he rested on his bed said "So this is the day when we finally leave huh?"

"Yep. For better or for worse, we're going to be tracking down Monkey D. Luffy today." I said with a sigh before I gently shook Kushina and said "Kushina, time to get up." Her eyes snapped open as soon as my hands went from holding to shaking her. The Kunoichi was tense for the briefest moments before she once more relaxed in my arms and gave her own yawn, one hand coming up and cutely rub at an eye. Smiling up at me, she said "Morning Matt."

"Morning Kushina." I said and rubbed the top of her head before I shifted and got out from under her and off the bed. Beginning to properly stretch, I said "Your turn to use the shower first."

"Right." Kushina said and there was a blur of red as her long hair trailed after her as she went for the shower. I watched her go for a moment before I turned towards my tablet and for the first time in a month activated its map program. When it loaded up, I set it for the East Blue and immediately noticed the blinking diamond that showed that the Nav System was unlocked. Idly reaching over to the card holster holding the rest of my Einherjar, I pulled out John and Sam's cards. A quick mental activation had them standing by me and I held up the tablet to John as I said "We've got our destination."

John accepted the tablet and I saw him blink before my eyes closed as I let out another yawn. I still heard him though as he incredulously asked "Are you kidding me? That's only thirty miles from here, we could get there in a couple of hours with a good motor boat."

I pouted and said "All that money for the Chinook we could have used for goodies."

Sam actually giggled as she said "Ah don't say that Sir, I'm sure we'll be glad to have the Chinook down the line."

"Yeah probably." I said with only a small grumble.

"Why don't Sam and I go start our test flight while you get ready Matt." John said and I nodded. As the two walked out of the room, Tyrus stretched out all of his wings and curled his body in a bunch of half circles before he flapped up into the air and said "I think I'll go ahead and start making my goodbyes as well." I gave a nod and he dove out of the cave and made an immediate right hand turn.

Once he was gone I began packing up everything we hadn't gotten yesterday. The shower would obviously go last but I stored the few camp chairs littered around the cave, deflated the air mattress, unhooked my phone from the solar generator and stored said generator. A minute later, the sound of the shower stopped and a few moments later Kushina came out, Chakra visible in her hands as she used it to push all of the water out of her long hair in one continuous push. Despite my expectations, she wasn't in her 'shinobi' form, instead wearing a pair of jeans and a red shirt that had a picture of a snarling wolf on it. That said, it wasn't like she actually needed her shinobi equipment to be dangerous, not with her chakra chains and Taijutsu ability.

Smiling, Kushina walked over and gave me a quick kiss as she said "Shower's all yours Matt." I nodded and walked over to it. One quick wash and a change of clothes later, I grabbed my noseless mask and slipped it on, though I left it on my forehead, and grabbed a cereal bar, tossing one to Kushina as well. True, as an Einherjar she didn't actually need to eat and the bar would just be transformed into energy to help power her a little bit better for a while, but it was the thought that counted. As we ate, there was the sound of helicopter rotors pounding the air and the Chinook soon flashed past the cave as it did a quick circuit around the island.

Once we had eaten, I strapped on all of my weapons and slung my bookbag over my shoulder. One last glance around the cave that had been my home for three months, and then I began the long trek down the mountain and to the clearing where the Quetzalcoatl usually practiced and where the Chinook was currently coming down to land. Kushina burrowed into my side as we walked and I slid an arm around her shoulders as I said "Not going to lie, I'm going to miss this place a little."

Kushina hummed and said "The locals are certainly nice."

"They are at that." I said with a grin, remembering all of the times I had been hanging around a massive bon fire started by said locals and listening to their story telling and song singing.

Tyrus rejoined us after we had finished climbing the mountain and were walking through the woods. He easily settled onto my shoulders, his head resting on top of mine. As we came into the clearing, he heaved a sigh and said "Hard to believe I'm finally leaving this place."

I let out a hum and said "Here's hoping to a victorious return in about a decade or so."

"Amen to that brother." Tyrus said and I didn't have to see his face to know that he was grinning.

We had an honor guard waiting in front of the rear hatch of the Chinook, a dozen of the oldest Quetzalcoatl sitting on their fifty plus feet tails in large coils, their heads bent down to human head height. The oldest member of the island population was in front of them, his ninety two foot length was trailing around the group and the Chinook. Giving me a respectful bow of his head, he said "Matthew, it has been a great honor to have you as a guest these last three months. Safe journeys young one."

"Thank you Sanjou, may the winds always bring you storms to nurture your home." I said giving a bow of my own head and the appropriate farewell.

The dark green snake turned his gaze on Tyrus who stiffened to attention on my shoulders and he said "Take care of him Tyrus, you know how helpless humans can be." The grin on the elder's face said that he _might_ be joking.

Tyrus grinned as well and said "I'll try sir, but apparently we're going to be joining up with an even bigger idiot."

"Oi." I said around my grin and chuckle, because really, Luffy was a Grade A moron on the best of days.

Sanjou let out a cackle before he shifted so that way we could walk past him and up the ramp into our ride. He and the other elders retreated to a safe distance away from the Chinook and several other Quetzalcoatl joined them to watch as the hatch was raised. John and Sam glanced back from their spots in the cockpit and I nodded while twirling my right pointer finger in the air. The two nodded and as Kushina and I sat down and strapped ourselves into the seats of the cargo hold they began spinning up the rotors. Tyrus settled his length along the right bench and we all watched as the land slowly fell away before we began moving forward, rapidly gaining speed.

As I watched the island fall behind us, I glanced forward at the ocean in front of us and said "Just wait Luffy, we're on our way."

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my Profile

Finally, _finally_ off that island. Next chapter has this story actually getting somewhere.

In other news, there is a poll that will determine if I add a new story to my roster and what that story is that will be taken down once I reach the week where I work on Fish Tales. VOTE ON IT PLEASE.


	5. Chapter 5

5\. Meeting The Captain

The Chinook stayed at a hundred feet as it charged across the ocean. With a cruising speed of 196 mph and our destination only thirty miles away, there wasn't really any point to getting to any appreciable cruising altitude. As such, when we shot over the target island less than twenty minutes after leaving the Quetzalcoatl island more than a few heads snapped up at our passage. The island we were over was primarily plain oriented and so Sam and John put us down in a large clearing a mile away from the town that the Nav System had indicated. Before the locals could even come running over to find out what the strange device in the sky was, the Chinook was in my Subspace Pocket, Sam and John were back in card form and my holster, and Kushina and I were moving under Tyrus' illusionary cloak to easily sneak past them when they did come searching.

Tyrus dropped the cloak around Kushina and me once we were in the middle of the town in an alleyway, the Winged Serpent settling on my shoulders and hiding his wings making him look like nothing more than a simple pet snake. Sure, he earned a glance from the people we passed by, but rarely did he get a second. This WAS a One Piece world after all. As such, we had no problem following the Nav system on my tablet to the harbor where a semi familiar cruise ship with a dolphin figurehead was docked.

I glanced back at my tablet one more time ensuring that yes, the Racing Dolphin was our destination before I nodded and said "Looks like we're joining up with Luffy at the very start of his journey. That's the ship he wound up in once his little dingy got caught in a whirlpool and he escaped in a barrel."

"Seriously?" Kushina asked and at my nod giggled as she said "Not much of a seaman this guy, eh?"

"Nope." I said with a grin before I put my tablet in my bookbag, stored my weapons, took out a small roll able suitcase for Kushina to pull behind her, and hooked my arm around hers before we continued on to the docks proper, coming to a stop on the appropriate one where the captain was standing next to a crewmember who held a book and was taking the names of passengers as they paid for passage. Kushina and I got slightly raised eyebrows when it was our turn, our clothing a stage or two more casual than the fancier dressed 'rich folk', but I simply smiled and said "How much for passage for two people Captain?"

"Fifty thousand Beris each, an extra five hundred Beris to bring your snake along as well, provided of course that you keep it either in your cabin or with you at all times." The captain said, giving Tyrus a brief once over, probably making sure he wasn't a poisonous breed.

I nodded agreeably to that and slid my book bag off one shoulder so that way I could get to it. A quick mental prompt had the money appear in the bottom of the section I opened and I handed it over to the crew member who took it with a nod and once they had Kushina and my names in the log book, and given us a cabin key, the Captain nodded and said "Welcome aboard you two, enjoy the trip."

We thanked him and walked passed and boarded the ship. Another crew member directed us to the deck of our cabin and once we were inside, Kushina lounged on the bed we would be sharing as she said "So how long until we meet up with our future Captain?"

Once more pulling out my tablet, I located Dawn Island and said "Well, his home island is three islands away, so with a ship like this one, and good wind, maybe a few days?"

Kushina hummed at that before she sat up with a grin and said "So since we have an hour or two before we get underway, what should we do to pass the time?"

I shrugged and said "We could finish that Mario Cart tournament that I was beating you in."

"Ha, you wish you were beating me!" Kushina said and I grinned as I brought out my 3DS, linked it to my tablet before handing it over to her, the two of us soon racing Mario characters across the Bowser's Castle course while Tyrus lounged on top of one of the cabinets in the cabin.

Time Skip: Three Days Later

For the first time since we had boarded the Racing Dolphin I had all of my weapons on me and Kushina was in full on Kunoichi mode. The pair of us and Tyrus were currently hiding under his cloaking illusion, had been since breakfast, and we were currently on the top deck watching the nearby island while a pair of sailors pulled up a barrel that had bumped up against the ship. As such, we spotted the pirate ship that came behind the island at the same time as the look out did. As the panicked sailor called down to the two sailors with the barrel that there was a pirate ship coming, I felt my face fall flat as I said "The swan figurehead with hearts for eyes is bad enough, but did Alvida really have to paint her entire ship pink?"

Kushina shook her head with a look of disgust on her face as she said "There's just no accounting for taste these days. I feel sorry for all the men pirates who have to serve on that ship."

I let out a snort at that and said "Same here." Before anything else could be said, the Miss Love Duck fired its cannons at the Racing Dolphin, bracketing the cruise ship with explosions that threw up fountains of water.

As the pirate ship began chasing us down, Tyrus glanced at me and said "You sure you don't want me to just make some water spouts around them?"

I shook my head and said "Can't risk Coby getting hurt. No, this is going to have be a close quarters fight."

"Which is the best kind there is." Kushina said with a grin and my lips twitched upwards before I winced as another barrage of cannon fire once more bracketed the vessel we were standing on. Giving the pirate vessel a wary look, I said "As soon as they turn towards us, they'll go for the rear mast."

The Miss Love Duck fired one more barrage at the fleeing ship before it began turning to port. I barely got out a "Here it comes!" Before the bow cannon behind the long figure head fired and a cannonball took out the rear mast. With a third of its sailing power stripped from it, the Racing Dolphin had no chance of outrunning its tormenters and Alvida's ship soon pulled alongside. As said Captain was seen, Kushina and Tyrus jerked back as they said together "That fat whale is Alvida?!"

"Yep." I said, my eyes narrowed as I studied the fat slob of a pirate. Really, the anime just didn't do that woman the injustice of portraying her properly, not that simple paper and ink could ever portray such an ugly person properly. Still, she wasn't our target at the moment, and besides, Luffy would take care of her soon enough. Instead, I turned my focus on the pirates yelling as they ran up the grappling lines they had put between the two ships and I said "Remember, let them get inside the ship, then take them down."

"Right." The other two members of our party said and as soon as most of the pirates went inside, we followed, Tyrus dropping the cloak. We reached the pirates just as they came upon the dance hall with the rest of the passengers. One of them had just stated that if the passengers handed all of their valuables over that they would be spared, something which I had my doubts about, before my Wraith Stunner dropped the scumbag. The other pirates spun around to face us but before they could actually do anything the found themselves wrapped up in Kushina's chains before she smashed their heads together in pairs knocking them out leaving only the odd one still conscious. Tyrus got that one as he shot off of my shoulders and bit into the man with fangs sparking and he screamed for a few seconds before he slumped in the chains.

The Captain and passengers stared at us in shock even as I tipped my hat's brim at the Captain and said "I recommend you find something to secure these men Captain. We'll go look for the others."

"Uh right." The Captain said and once Kushina had dismissed her chains we headed back out of the dining room. The infrared vision on my mask lead us to two more groups of pirates that we got the drop on before there was a loud crash signaling it was time to head back to the top deck. We came out just in time for a pirate to fly through the air screaming before he slammed into the wall next to the door we exited and slide off knocked out. Just to be safe, I shot him with my stunner before we took off to where a group of pirates were surrounding a figure that was short enough only a Straw Hat on top of their head was seen. Well, that, and the top of a pipe. It seemed like the Luffy of this world had kept the weapon he and his brothers had used when they were young.

And then the group of pirates got blasted away from the figure in the center who idly twirled the pipe in their hand before resting it across their shoulders with both hands idly gripping it and I blinked at the sight of long black hair that fell to the midback. I had barely gotten out a surprised "What the?" before Alvida burst out of the deck behind the figure like the whale she so greatly imitated, mace already falling to slam into Luffy's head. She never connected though, instead Luffy's leg whipped up and wrapped five times around the mace before they yanked their leg forward sending Alvida flying forward like she just got Judo thrown, landing on her back hard enough to make the deck tremble. The next instant, Luffy's pipe was by their side and their arm was twisting. Alvida barely had time to widen her eyes at the sight before Luffy brought the pipe swinging down and with a loud cry of "FORE!" slammed the rod of metal into her blasting her off of the ship and rapidly out of sight.

"Nice." Kushina said with a grin that I matched as we made the rest of our way over.

Luffy heard us and turned with a grin as _she_ laughed and said "Shishishishi! Thanks!"

Kushina blinked once before she glanced at me and said "I thought Luffy was supposed to be a boy?"

" _Oda's_ Luffy was a boy. Clearly, we're in a variant dimension." I said with a slight frown. Seriously, if I didn't love the Loop series started by Saphroneth that not so little detail would have really thrown me for a loop.

"What are you two talking about? And how do you know who I am?" Luffy asked with a cocked head.

"It's a long story, but the short version was that I was sent to join your crew by a god tiered being." I said with a shrug.

"Really?" Luffy asked, and her eyes definitely had an inner glow to them at that before they disappeared as the Racing Dolphin and the Miss Love Duck were suddenly bracketed by cannon fire.

"Luffy, Marines!" Coby shouted from where he had been hiding behind the nearby mast, the pink haired kid pointing out at sea.

Luffy's eyes glanced at the three Marine ships, then towards Alvida's ship. I _expected_ her to say that now would be a good time for Coby to join up with the Marines but instead she gave a decisive nod and said "Coby, get one of the life rafts ready, we're getting out of here."

Coby made a salute, seemingly on pure instinct as he said "Yes ma'am!" The next instant he sprinted over to the railing facing Alvida's ship and quickly began undoing the ropes keeping a life boat secured. As he did that, Luffy studied us for a quick but intense moment before grinning and said "Well if you guys want to join us, then who am I to say no? Come on!" And with that, she ran over to Coby.

"Now THAT I expected from her." I said lowly to myself and Kushina hummed as we followed.

A minute later, we were all in the life boat and dropping eight decks down to the surface of the ocean. We dropped right next to Nami's own small craft, the orangette letting out a short scream of surprise, and Luffy grinned at her from where she was braced against the side of the boat holding her hat with the other hand (an action I was mirroring) before she leapt over me and Kushina, her legs rapidly wrapping around each other before she reached the back of the boat and stuck them in the water as she called out "Gum Gum Propeller!"

An instant later, her legs began unwrapping and we quickly shot away from the two large vessels at speeds right up there with jet skis, quickly putting them and the rapidly approaching marines behind us. A minute later, we finally slowed down and the boat settled on a more even plane. Coby and I dropped the sail and we continued on as Luffy shook off her wet feet. Once she was done, she hopped up to sit cross legged on a barrel and eagerly grinned at us as she said "Now that we're away from the Marines, tell me that story!"

I nodded and said "Alright, it starts in a world different than this one, where a mangaka or anime writer was writing a story that had been going on for twenty one years and was one of the top three manga out there…"

Forty five minutes later, Luffy studied me, Kushina, and Tyrus for a long moment before she nodded and said "So you're basically a summoner with access to a magic shop that can get us pretty much whatever we want with a cool storm eating snake for a partner, and knowledge of what MIGHT happen, is that right?"

I nodded and said "That pretty much covers it, though you forgot the IDs I can create." Leaning forward, I said "Oda's Luffy didn't want any spoilers, and he didn't like people trying to join his crew out of debt or because they were told to, but I'm hoping you'll have me aboard and allow me to offer advice where necessary."

Luffy chuckled and detached her pipe from the clips of the harness she wore on her back and began idly twirling it with one hand as she said "Well, I don't know about this other Luffy, but I'd be pretty stupid to not let you join. Not wanting to know what's ahead is one thing, but if knowledge of potential future enemies can keep me and my crew safe, then as Captain I have a duty to know about it."

"Very pragmatic of you." Kushina said with an approving nod and Luffy gave her signature laugh for a minute.

When she stopped, she leaned forward slightly and said "So in this story, we grabbed Pirate Hunter Zoro for our crew right?" At my nod, she grinned eagerly even as Coby began trying to dissuade her from trying to recruit him. As the two interacted, I leaned back with a sigh of contentment, Kushina soon joining me while Tyrus flew up to the top of our little boat's mast. Luffy had thankfully allowed us to join her crew, so now all we had to do was sit back and relax until we reached Shell Town.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule is on my Profile, along with a Poll

So I've decided that I'm going to do this and Tailor by episode rather than by arc, or Oda forbid saga. It would just get to be too big and keep you guys from reading it for even longer. Although, if the place we're at is only a few episodes long I might just steamroll them all together if they don't wind up getting too long. (Shrugs) Eh, we'll see.


	6. Chapter 6

6\. Shaking Up A Bag Of Shells

Story Start: En Route To Shells Town

Sitting on the 'figurehead' of our boat (It was really just an extension of the keel three feet above the water) Luffy laughed as she said "Ah, we certainly have great weather today!"

"Yeah, if it keeps up then we should be able to reach our destination within the next couple of hours." Koby said with a smile as he retied a sail line after having made a course correction. He then turned serious and said "But Luffy, do you really want Zoro on your crew? It's said he's a bloodthirsty demon of a bounty hunter that slices up anyone who gets in his way."

"I'm sure. Plus, he can't be too bad if Matt said he joined my crew, right Matt?" Luffy asked, turning her head like an owl to shoot a grin at where I was leaning against the mast.

I gave a thumb's up and said "While he really is quite blood-thirsty, he does have an honor code he goes by. So long as you don't get in the way of his dream, then you should be fine." I then smirked and said "You might have to blackmail him a little to get him to join you though."

"Eh?" Luffy asked, cocking her head to the side, which just appeared wrong for a human neck to contort like that while still twisted even as my Captain asked "Why would I need to blackmail him?"

"He's of the mind that all pirates are the kind who loot, pillage, rape, and kill rather than some of them being adventure seekers." I said. I then shrugged and said "Of course, the person in charge of the base we're heading to and his son aren't much better."

"What?! B-but Matt, they're Marines! Why would you say that they're as bad as pirates?!" Koby asked with wide eyes.

Lowering the bill of my camo hat, I said "You'll see when we get there. All I'll say right now is that despite what many wish, this world is not painted in black and white. Not every Pirate is a devil and not every Marine is a saint."

Koby looked confused, but thankfully didn't ask anything further. Gaining a thought, I glanced up at him and Luffy and said "By the way guys, since we've got a couple of hours, would you like to watch a movie?"

"Eh, what's a movie?" Luffy asked, spinning around even as her head cocked again.

"Oh yeah, you guys don't have the infrastructure for them." I said with a snap of my fingers before I grinned and said "Well, you guys are really going to get a kick out of this then." Pulling my laptop and one of my external hard drives out, I set them on the bench and powered up my laptop and said "A movie is a story told by moving images and sound. They're usually around an hour and a half long though some can be as short as fifteen minutes while others can be nine hours long." As the laptop finished it's start up sequence, I attached the external hard drive and pulled up the movie files and continued "I think Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will be a good introduction. It's about a British naval ship hunting down a French one."

"Ah, sounds interesting!" Luffy said eagerly hopping over to my side to watch. Koby also looked interested so I moved away from the laptop to sit next to Kushina who was leaning against the boat side while the two locals eagerly began watching the screen as a ship moving through fog appeared on it.

Two hours and eighteen minutes later, Luffy leaned back and said "Ah, that was such a great story!"

"It was at that, but it also got pretty dark at times." Koby said, biting his thumb a little.

"The best stories tend to have at least some darkness in them." I said with a shrug, putting the laptop and hard drive up even as I smirked and said "By the way, we're here."

"Huh?" Luffy and Koby asked only to look up and forward following my pointed finger. In front of us about a mile away was Shells Town. Slightly freaking out, Koby asked "Ah! Matt, why didn't you tell us you had spotted the island earlier!?"

"Because it would have been rude to interrupt you guys during the movie." I said with a smirk as I shouldered my bookbag. Tyrus snickered as he came down the mast and took his position on my shoulders, his wings shimmering out of sight. I gave his head a pat as I studied the island in front of us and said "Well guys, this is the first Marine island on our journeys, it certainly won't be the last though, for either of you two."

"The base sure is something. As expected from such a world spanning organization." Koby said with awe.

"It's got some tall buildings for sure, but I'm more interested with who's at those buildings rather than the buildings themselves." Luffy said with a wide grin.

'Indeed, I might be able to get another of our crewmates early if I play my cards right.' I thought with a grin.

We were soon tied up at one of the town's docks and Kushina and I followed behind Luffy and Koby as we made our way up to the base. As we walked, Koby tried one more time to dissuade Luffy from recruiting Zoro as he said "You know Luffy, if he's being detained it's for a reason."

"It could be a stupid reason though." Luffy said.

"Oh, it is." I said to myself.

Koby looked back at me before he said "Whatever the reason, it's because Zoro's a bad person!"

And que townsmen jumping away from us number one. As Koby looked around in confusion, I grinned and said "Looks like you shouldn't mention his name around these parts."

"Yeah, I guess so." Koby said, turning to look behind us at all of the people that still looked spooked as we walked away.

"Ah, who cares about those guys." Luffy said, putting her hands behind her head as she said "Come on, we need to head to the marine base, you can't become a Marine if you don't sign up now can you Koby?"

"Y-yes…But I'm not really ready yet…" Koby said before tapping his pointer fingers together a couple of times and said "Rumor has it a guy named Captain Morgan is at this base and…" And que townsmen jumping away from us number two, this time with them looking even more scared.

Looking around in confusion, Koby said "Alright, I get Zoro, but why are they scared of Morgan?"

"It's like I said earlier Koby, the world isn't as black and white as people wish." I said.

"Yeah but." Koby said before Luffy ruffled his head and said "Come on Koby, with Matt being all secretive, we won't learn anything here, let's keep going to the base like I said."

"O-Okay." Koby said with a nod.

Reaching the base, Koby swallowed and said "I'm finally here. L-Luffy, even though we've only known each other for a little while, you've been a great friend. But even so, now that I am about to become a Marine, that makes us enemies. What I'm trying to say is that this is goodbye."

Luffy snorted and said "You're getting a little ahead of yourself there Koby."

"E-eh?!" Koby stuttered, a mild look of shock mixed with just a hint of hurt on his face.

"Well yeah, you aren't a marine until the person in charge of this place says you're accepted in their ranks right?" Luffy asked with a grin.

"Oh, well that's true I guess." Koby said rubbing the back of his head.

"Mh-hm." Luffy hummed before she turned to me and said "Hey Matt, where's this Zoro guy?"

Now frowning, Koby said "Obviously he's in a cell somewhere Luffy."

"Nope, he's tied up in the yard just down there." I said with a smirk pointing a little bit down the wall.

"Thanks!" Luffy said before running along the wall a little before leaping up. A moment later, she said "Hey, he's right, there's a guy tied to a cross over here!"

"Seriously!?" Koby asked quickly joining him up on the wall, an action Kushina and I copied so that Koby was between Luffy and me.

Grinning at the person I spotted, I said "Oh yeah, that's him alright. The number one badass in the East Blue."

"Hey, what about me?" Luffy asked with a pout.

I waved my left hand and softly in a tone of voice that wouldn't carry said "You're strong for sure, but pretty soon this guy's going to take a knife to the chest, with the blade stopping less than an inch to his heart and he won't take a single step back."

"He's what?!" Koby asked with wide eyes.

Luffy meanwhile hummed to herself and said "Hm…yep, I've got nothing."

"Hey you guys." The man we were talking about said, and I **SWEAR** I heard the sound of an electric guitar being strung as he looked up at us and continued "You guys are an eyesore, beat it."

Koby let out a full body shiver and said "H-he's so scary!"

"Incoming tyke." I said just before a ladder appeared on Luffy's other side. We all glanced at the girl who climbed up to the top and held a finger up to her lips and shshed at us before she lowered a rope over the side of the wall, dropped down, and ran towards Zoro.

"Ah, she's going to get hurt! Luffy, Matt, you gotta help her!" Koby said in a panic.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Kushina asked causing Tyrus to hiss out in laughter.

Meanwhile the girl (I think her name was Rika?) had made her way to Zoro who stared down at her and "What?"

"You must be hungry! I made you some rice balls!" Rika said, beginning to unwrap them.

As she did so, Zoro asked "Do you _wanna_ get killed, pipsqueak? Scram!"

"You haven't eaten anything this whole time." Rika said before holding up her offering and said "Here! This is my first time, but I worked really hard to make them!"

Zoro's eyes widened slightly but then narrowed as he said "I ain't hungry! You're an eyesore, get outta here!"

"But…" Rika said unsure.

"I don't want 'em! Don't make me kick your ass!" Zoro yelled.

It was at that point that the nearby gate rolled to the side and an annoying voice said "It's not nice to be a bully!"

"Oi, this guy." I muttered with a scowl as we watched Helmeppo and the two Marines assigned to him walk into the yard. A decent Marine down the line this guy might turn into, but right now he was still a spoiled brat.

Laughing as he walked over, he said "You seem surprisingly well, Roronoa Zoro…"

"Now there's another weird guy!" Luffy said and I snickered before I stopped as Koby let out a sigh of relief and said "Thank goodness! He must be with the navy! Now that girl will be safe!"

" _Don't count on it_." Me, Kushina, and Tyrus all said together.

Koby looked at us in confusion but his attention was brought back to the scene in front of us as Helmeppo leaned over Rika and said "Oh? Those are some tasty looking rice balls." He swiped one and bit into it even as Rika cried out "Stop!" Ignoring her, he chewed a couple of times before his eyes widened and he spat out the rice ball and said "Too damn sweet! Those are filled with sugar! You're supposed to use salt for rice balls!"

"But I thought they might taste better sweet…" Rika said.

Helmeppo knocked the other rice ball into the dirt and began stomping on it, ignoring Rika's cries for him to stop. "H-how horrible." Koby said in disbelief as we watched.

Rika meanwhile began crying as she said "And I worked so hard to make those…"

Helmeppo decided to further prove his douchebaggery by pulling out a sheet of paper as he asked "Did you not read this notice? 'Those who help criminals will be executed! Navy Captain Morgan.'"

Rika's look of sadness turned to fear at the double chinned brat's words and he laughed as he said "Looks like even little brats know how scary my dad is!"

"Then that's Captain Morgan's son?" Koby asked.

Luffy let out a snort of anger and glanced sideways at me as she said "Seems you weren't kidding about this guy earlier Matt."

Before I could respond, Helmeppo glanced at one of his bodyguards and said "Hey, throw this girl out!"

"Sir!?" Was his scared response.

Helmeppo grabbed the marine's shirt and said "I said throw her over the wall! Or can you not follow my orders?! Don't make me tell my dad!"

"Y-yes Sir, R-right away!" The panicked marine said.

Rika cowered as the man picked her up. Whispering, the man said "I'm sorry little girl. Curl up into a ball."

The girl let out a scream as she was tossed over and Luffy immediately jumped into action, pushing off the wall and stretching her arms out to grab Rika, pulling the younger girl against her chest and turning to land on her back, skidding a short distance across the ground. As she sat up, Rika smiled and said "T-thank you!"

"Are you alright Luffy?!" Koby asked as he came running up. As he kneeled by Rika to check on her, Luffy straightened her hat and rejoined us up on the wall.

"Damn you." Zoro muttered, glaring at Helmeppo as he took a few steps towards the wall laughing and said "You sure are stubborn about staying alive…"

"Yeah! I _will_ live the full month!" Zoro declared.

"Well, good luck with that." Helmeppo declared laughing as he walked back to the gate, his two bodyguards falling in behind him.

"Ten days left, you know!" Zoro called after him.

"Assuming you can live that long!" Helmeppo called back.

"How can he be so cruel, Luffy?!" Asked Koby, turning towards us only to widen his eyes as he saw that she was not with us anymore. Looking around, he asked "She's gone?!"

"She went to talk to Zoro." Tyrus said, jerking his head in that direction.

"Eh?!" Koby asked with wide eyes, scrabbling up the wall again to watch with us as Luffy fearlessly approached her future swordsman.

As she stopped ten feet in front of Zoro he looked up and she said "I hear that you're supposedly a bad guy."

"Are you still here?" Zoro asked in confusion.

"Being stuck out here for all to see…Are you really strong after all?" Luffy asked, a teasing smile on her lips.

"Mind your own business!" Zoro snapped.

Letting out an actual giggle of all things, the future 'King' walked forward and said "You know, if it were me, I'd probably starve to death in three days!"

"I've got more spirit than you. I _will_ live through this… I swear it!" Zoro said with a grin.

"Eeh, well, I suppose we'll see." Luffy said with a smile, turning to walk away only to stop as Zoro said "Wait!"

Turning back around with an inquisitive hum, Luffy cocked her head in question. Glancing downwards at the crushed rice ball, Zoro asked "Could you pick that up for me?"

Humming again, Luffy crouched and picked it up as she asked "You want to eat _this_? It's mostly a mud ball now."

"Just shut up and give it here woman!" Zoro yelled.

"Alright, alright, eesh, no need to bite my head off." Luffy said before lightly tossing the 'mud ball' into Zoro's open mouth. The man chewed it a few times before he swallowed and coughed a few times. Standing up and crossing her arms, Luffy said "Told you so."

"It was good. Thanks for the food." Zoro said. Luffy blinked once before she smiled.

Taking a few steps closer, she put her hand on Zoro's shoulder and grinned as she said "Hang in there for just a while longer, I'd hate for such an interesting guy to die in such a pathetic manner."

"Heh, right." Zoro said with an answering grin and Luffy walked away waving a hand and throwing over her shoulder "Ja, ne."

Scene Change: In An Alleyway By Rika's Home

"Really, he ate it all?!" Rika asked with a grin.

Luffy nodded with a smile of her own and said "Yep, every last bite. And he said it was good too."

"I'm glad." Rika said, still smiling.

"Is Zoro really as evil as the rumors say?" Koby asked to himself.

"I did tell you." I pointed out.

"Well, yes, but there are a LOT of rumors about him." Koby said rubbing the back of his head.

"They're wrong!" Rika shouted with a shake of her head and she continued in a quieter manner "After all, he let himself get crucified in our place…"

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked with a slightly cocked head.

"It's all that Helmeppo's fault." Rika said, frowning as she explained "He's Captain Morgan's son… three weeks ago, his pet wolf was running around the village causing trouble for everyone. It came into my mom's restaurant and began eating everyone's food. I tried to chase it away with a broom but it tried to attack me. Zoro saved me by attacking the wolf. Helmeppo didn't appreciate this, but when he tried to attack Zoro he wound up being the one to be attacked. Helmeppo claimed that if his father learned of his death, me and my mother would be executed. Helmeppo made a deal that if Zoro could survive being strung up for a month, he would not only let us go, but Zoro as well. Zoro agreed."

Turning around to look at us with tears in her eyes, she continued "Helmeppo punches and kicks him while he's tied up!"

"I see." Koby said forlornly.

Before anything else could be said, a crashing sound came from the restaurant. Rika quickly opened the door we were standing near and we followed her through the restaurant's kitchen and came out to the dining area to the sight of Helmeppo with his feet on the table, crossed and in the remains of a serving bowl and smirking as he said "Hey Waitress, Bring us some food!" Gesturing at him and his two guards, he continued "We'll be eating for free of course." I noticed that said two guards behind Helmeppo shot Ririka apologetic looks as they too sat down nearby, though that was a small comfort at the moment.

While Helmeppo was making a bigger ass of himself, I spotted Nami watching him with a completely blanked face. I lightly nudged Kushina and when she followed my line of sight nodded. The pair of us kept half our focus on her as we followed Luffy past Helmeppo. However, we had only gotten a few feet when Helmeppo said "Oh yeah, I've been bored lately, so I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. Look forward to it!"

Luffy's cheek twitched once before she was suddenly right beside Helmeppo, fist slamming into the underside of his jaw launching him up out of his chair. The moment he was high enough, Luffy grabbed his right ankle, spun in a circle and launched Helmeppo out of the restaurant hard enough to slam into the wall of the building across the street. She started walking out after him, pipe flicking to either side of her to knock the hastily drawn sabers out of the two Marine's hands without even looking at them.

Outside, Helmeppo was cradling his jaw that was already blooming an absolute beauty of a bruise. Seeing Luffy come striding towards him, he began trembling as he shouted "You hit me! Do you have any idea who I am?! I'm Captain Morgan's son! I'll tell him what you did and he'll execute you!"

"Like I give a rat's ass about him, fight me yourself you scumbag!" Luffy snarled, grabbing Helmeppo's shirt and yanking him off the ground. Helmeppo's hands desperately grasped at her arm while his feet scrabbled to try and gain purchase on the ground but Luffy easily held him a few inches off of it. Snarling at him, Luffy said "People like you make me sick."

Drawing her pipe back, Luffy prepared to knock his block off only to pause as Koby cried out "Wait, Luffy! Don't do it, he's not worth it!"

Luffy stood still for a moment, glaring at the teen in her hands for a moment before she let out a snort and said "You got lucky punk." Tossing Helmeppo over her shoulder, she began walking towards the direction of the base and said "Let's go guys, I can't stand the stench of sewage around here."

"Right." I said and we began following her. Helmeppo and his goons quickly passed us as they booked it back to their base.

After a couple of minutes, I spotted Nami also making her way to the base past us and I said "Captain, do you mind if we split up for a bit? There's something I want to deal with now rather than later."

Luffy gave me a curious look but after a moment nodded and said "Alright Matt, but don't take too long."

Nodding, I glanced at Tyrus on my shoulders then Kushina and said "Stealth mode guys, then double time it. We need to catch up with Helmeppo if we want time for set up."

"Right." The two said and Tyrus and Kushina shimmered out of visibility, Kushina imitating the Quetzalcoatl via the Chameleon Jutsu while I activated my Concealment Haki and we took off at a run, soon catching up with our targets.

We followed the three all the way to Captain Morgan's office, taking a spot in a corner to avoid being detected. After listening to Helmeppo whine to his father than watch the people inside leave, we dropped our various cloaking techniques and I sighed as I said "I swear, that brat can not grow up fast enough."

"He is rather annoying." Kushina said with a nod.

"Got that right. So Matt, what are we doing here?" Tyrus asked.

"Nami's going to be searching this place for a Grand Line map." I said, popping the cover of my Einherjar card holster up and pulling out four cards. Placing two of them on either side of the doors then making my way over to the window, I continued "This gives us a chance to recruit her a little bit earlier than in the show."

"Let me guess, she's likely to pull a runner when she sees us, which is why you're posting guards at the exit points." Kushina said.

I nodded and went to sit at the desk. Putting my feet on it as I leaned back in the chair, I said "Exactly, which is why Tyrus is going to cloak us while she searches. Our methods are good, but as both a world class navigator and thief, she's highly observant so I don't want to take any chances."

"Makes sense. I should probably go back into card form so that way there's one less person for her to potentially bump into." Kushina said. At my nod, she let out a small pulse of white light before she was replaced with her card form which floated towards me.

Plucking her out of the air with one hand, I pulled my mask down from my forehead to cover my eyes with the other and activated the multispectrum overlay function. Five minutes later, I saw a female tying up two males outside the door and said quietly "She's here."

Tyrus cloaked us and I stood up moving over to the window. I stayed there as Nami opened the door and slipped into the office, closing the door behind her. I stayed there as she looked through the few cabinets in the room as well as the desk. When she spotted the safe hidden behind a couple of barrels though, I went back to the desk and took off my bookbag while I put my feet back on the desk.

When Nami read the note that Buggy had left in place of the map and crumpled it, I smirked and said "Don't you just hate it when you're the _second_ person to try to steal something?"

Nami's gaze snapped over to my now uncloaked form. Her eyes darted to the doors but before she could bolt, Eirika and Tana's cards activated, the pair of Magvelian Princesses wearing casual clothes but Eirika's Rapier and Tana's spear visible. A glance at the window showed Lucina and Corrin, also in casual clothes and also with swords visible, though like Eirika's they remained sheathed for now. And Kushina was right next to me again as well.

I let Nami realize that she wasn't going anywhere without a fight before I said "Relax Miss Nami, we're not here to harm you. No, we're here because you're the absolute best damned navigator I know about and I have a business proposition for you." Taking my feet off the desk and sitting up properly, I reached down into my bookbag, pulling a briefcase out of the storage space and set it down on the desk as I said "I'll even pay you for listening to me." Opening the case, I opened it then turned it so that Nami could see the twenty stacks of fifty bills inside, each one with the one thousand beri denomination on them and continued "One Million Beris, all yours, and all you have to do is listen to my proposal. After that, if you don't want to do business with me then you can walk."

"Just like that?" Nami asked with suspicious eyes.

"Just like that, but I am confident that once you hear what I have to say that you'll be rather glad to do business with me." I said.

Nami scoffed and said "Well we'll just have to see about that." However, she DID walk over to the desk, sitting down on it and pulling the briefcase over. Taking out a stack, she fingered through it as she said "Alright, you've got my attention, so talk."

"Let me start with a hypothetical question Nami. With Roger gone, the position of King of the Pirates is wide open for the taking. What do you think would be better for the world's population, the stereotypical blood thirsty pirate who pillaged, raped, and burned down every town they came across on their way to the One Piece or a pirate who is a peacemain, a person who went out to sea in search of adventure and flies the Jolly Roger because they believe it represents freedom, and thus that the King of Pirates is the freeist of everyone on the seas?"

Nami scoffed and said "The second one obviously, though that one's a myth."

"Counter argument, Red Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors." I said before I shrugged and continued "But given your problems with Arlong, I can understand your skepticism." As Nami tensed, I leaned closer towards her with serious eyes and said "Yes Nami, I'm aware of what is going on at your home islands. My group can help you free not just your home town but EVERY population center in Arlong's webbed grip. We've got a Paramecia Devil Fruit user as our captain and around fifty highly trained members, some of them with very advanced guns that make Marine rifles look like some of those pop gun toys kids play with." Eyes now narrowing, I said "Nami, realistically speaking, we are your _only_ chance to get out of Arlong's grip. Deal with him or no, you know, you _know_ that he will NEVER let you go, you're far too valuable to him."

"So the only way to get free of him is to trade one master for another?" Nami asked sharply, eyes also narrowed.

"No, your only way free is to _ask for help_." I said standing up. Nami blinked in confusion as she watched me walk over to the window and watch as the Marines outside celebrated Morgan's defeat. Turning back around, I smirked and said "I think it's time we take this conversation to another location. ID Create: Ten Forward, Time Dilation Multipliers: 2X, 5X, 10X, 25X."

The Marine Captain's office around us was suddenly the bar on the Starship Enterprise, the desk Nami was sitting on now a table with chairs on two sides rather than just one, surrounded by other tables with a window showing streams of stars as we traveled at warp speed on one side and a bar with a dark skinned woman with a rather unusual hat on the other.

Blinking rapidly as she looked around, Nami asked "W-what just happened?!"

"You were just placed in an Illusionary Dimension that is undergoing time dilation for the purpose of having a very long discussion without being interrupted honey." Guinan said with a smile.

"Huh?" Was Nami's oh so intelligent response.

Chuckling, I made my way over to the bar and said "A&W Root Beer if you'd please Guinan."

"Right away dear." Guinan said with a kind smile, a moment later handing me a properly tall and thick glass filled with the requested drink, foam at the top. Turning her smile to Nami, she asked "And what would you like honey?"

"Uh." Nami said unsurely and I smiled as I said "Go ahead Nami, you can ask for whatever you want."

Still looking unsure, Nami asked "Can I have a Negroni?"

"Coming right up." Guinan said, pouring the ingredients into a shaker and thoroughly shaking it before straining the liquid into a properly chilled cocktail glass before putting an orange twist into it. Nami got off the table as she worked and accepted the offered glass with a small thanks. The orangette stared into the glass for a moment before she took a cautious sip, her eyes widening as she realized that yes, she _was_ holding an alcoholic beverage in her hand meaning that this _was_ real.

Chuckling again, I took a seat at the table she had been sitting on, where my bookbag still was in fact, and gestured at the other side as I said "Now, shall I give you a proper explanation about what's going on and my offer for you?"

"Y-yeah, I think I'd like that." Nami said, making her way back to the table. Meanwhile, my five girls were making their own way over to the bar to ask for their own drinks, though like me they were choosing nonalcoholic ones. Tyrus meanwhile flew off of my shoulders and settled on top of one of the bar's lamps, earning yet another surprised look from Nami as he decloaked his wings.

I drew her attention back to me by snapping my fingers a few times and said "Alright, for starters, let me explain the Multiverse Theory to you and we'll go from there."

Forty five minutes, two refills of Root Beer, a second Negroni, and a quick viewing of a certain fight later, Nami ran a hand through her hair as she muttered to herself "This is insane." Looking up from the table at me, she said "This is absolutely crazy, I should be checking myself into the nutter's house right now for even _thinking_ of believing you."

"You'll find that once you enter the Grand Line, sanity is a very rare commodity indeed." I said with a chuckle before I leaned forward and said "That was the explanation for why I made contact with you early, are you ready to learn what my offer is?"

Nami paused for a moment before she nodded and said "Against my better judgement, yes."

Nodding, I pulled out a pair of papers and a pen, signing a section at the bottom on both before pushing all three over to Nami and said "Read this, and if you agree, sign at the bottom."

Pulling out a set of glasses that I was pretty sure she didn't need from somewhere that I decided not to guess, Nami put on them on and began reading out loud:

" _In exchange for Nami joining the Straw Hat Pirates crew as Navigator for ten years, after the securing of the crew's Sniper and Cook said crew shall provide any and all aid in removing Arlong and his crew from the Conomi Islands. In addition, for the first month, Nami shall be allowed to keep seventy five percent of all funds she obtains in IDs, after which she will retain fifty percent, the other portion of which shall go into the crew's treasury. Finally, Nami shall have complete access to the Interdimensional Trade Forum._ "

Beneath that short paragraph at the bottom of the page were three lines, underneath which was Luffy's name next to her rank as Captain, my name beside the words Third Mate/Quartermaster, then finally Nami's name next to Second Mate/Navigator, my signature already in place on both copies of the short contract.

Nami hesitated for a moment, chewing her lip in thought before she gave a determined nod and signed the papers, sliding them back to me with one hand while removing the glasses with the other as she said "I'm guessing that I'll be getting one of those back when my new captain signs them?"

"Yep." I said with a nod, storing the papers for now before I reached over and said "This might be a little premature, but welcome to the crew Nami, it's good to have you on board."

"Good to be on board I guess." Nami said as she shook the offered hand. Letting go, she asked "So what now?"

"Now? Now we finish our drinks then go meet up with Luffy and the _other_ person she recruited." I said with a smirk, lifting my glass to my lips and tossing back the last of my root beer, an action that Nami and my girls all followed, our glasses hitting our respective tables with a simultaneous thunking sound. As we stood up, Nami grabbing her money, I nodded to Guinan and said "Thanks for the drinks."

"Anytime dear, don't be shy about coming back now." Guinan said with a smile and I nodded before I said "ID Escape."

As we returned back to the 'real' world, Eirika, Tana, Corrin, and Lucina all returned to card form and I stored them in my holster as I said "Now we just need to head back to the diner. Tyrus, can you make sure Nami is cloaked?"

"On it." Tyrus said, shifting over to her shoulders. A moment later, the pair vanished from sight and Kushina and I were quick to do the same, leaving the office and walking past the still struggling tied up guards without them noticing us.

Scene Change: Ririka's Restaurant

We arrived to the sight of Luffy and Zoro eagerly digging through a large rack of ribs, small towers of plates surrounding them. Chuckling to myself, I nudged our new navigator and said "This Luffy may be a different gender than 'Canon' Luffy, but she can still pack it away like Jewelry Bonney, AKA The Glutton."

"So it seems." Nami said, actually leaning back a little as she gave Luffy a wary look.

Hearing us, Luffy did her owl trick again and at the sight of us grinned as much as she could with bulging cheeks. Giving five mega chews then swallowing everything at once, her grin grew as she said "Hey guys, isn't that the girl who's boat we almost dropped our own on top of?"

I chuckled and said "She is in fact that woman. More importantly though Captain, with your approval, she's also going to be our Navigator."

Luffy actually turned away from the food to properly face us, going so far as to stand up and lean against the table as she studied Nami intently. After the first few seconds under her stare, Nami began fidgeting slightly and actually let out a sigh of relief as Luffy turned her gaze towards me and asked "Did 'he' meet her?"

I nodded and said "They officially met at our next stop but it took a while for her to warm up to him, I just thought I would take a shortcut or two. Speaking of which, Luffy, I need you to sign these."

Pulling out the contracts and the same pen as before, I set them on a nearby table that _wasn't_ full of dirty dishes and Luffy made an inquisitive sound as she came to join us. Cocking her head as she read the top copy of the contract, she glanced back at me and asked "Someone else is being an asshole and deserves an introduction to my pipe I take it?"

"It's a rather bad reoccurring problem I'm afraid." I said, shrugging in a 'what can you do?' gesture.

Luffy hummed at that and went back to the contract, this time bringing her gaze to the bottom where she blinked and said "Hang on Matt, you gave yourself the wrong rank."

Blinking myself, I cocked my head and asked "I did? I thought given my connection to the store and storage capabilities that I would be the Quartermaster, which in turn is usually the Third Mate position." Navigators of course were the Second Mates given how important that position was to the survival of the ship and crew.

"Oh, you're definitely our Quartermaster, that's not the problem. It's just that you're my _First_ Mate, not Third."

"What, but I thought that Zoro was?" I said, now thoroughly confused.

Said swordsmen took a moment from making up for three weeks of missed meals as he said "First crewmate recruited by the Captain is _always_ First Mate unless it is shown down the line that they are not capable of fulfilling the duties of that post." And with that, he went back to finishing the last of the ribs before pulling a massive bowl of mashed potatoes towards him.

"Oh." I said, blinking again before I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head and said "Well, I feel stupid now."

"Shishishishi, don't worry about it!" Luffy literally laughed my embarrassment off as she crossed out my assumed rank and wrote my apparently _proper_ rank under it then signed in her own spots. Clicking the pen shut, she then turned to us and handed me and Nami a contract each before offering the other girl her hand with a megawatt D-shaped grin and said "Welcome aboard Nami, I hope we can become great friends!"

Despite herself, Nami found herself smiling as she shook Luffy's hand and said "I hope so too." Her grin then turned eager and I swear I heard a CHA-CHING sound as she continued "You seem strong, just think of all the loot I can get now with your help!"

Luffy laughed at that and said "SHISHISHI, you're funny!" Still laughing, she went back to the table and dug in with gusto, calling over her shoulder as she pulled a plate of deviled eggs over "So Matt, where _did_ he meet her?"

Walking over and grabbing an egg for myself, I said "Orange Island Captain." Popping the egg into my mouth, I chewed then swallowed as I said "I'd like to make a detour if possible. With Nami and Zoro joining us, we could use a day or two to get used to working with each other before we head there."

I made a spinning motion with my index finger and Luffy nodded her understanding, having been informed about the Chinook during my explanation for how I had gotten off of Snake Island. Swallowing the last of the eggs, she said "Sure, I'm sure we could find somewhere for that."

I noticed that the pair had finished what was currently on the table. But before they could order more food, Commander Ripper came in and made a beeline for us. Standing ramrod straight, he asked "Excuse me miss, is it true that you are a pirate?"

Luffy eyeballed him for a brief moment before nodding and said "That's right, I am."

"I see. In that case, I'm afraid I have no choice. While I and the rest of the Marines stationed here owe you a great debt, we cannot allow pirates to remain on this island, and therefore must ask you to leave." Everyone else in the restaurant was understandably upset about this but Commander Ripper ignored them as he continued "As thanks for what you have done though, we will not report your presence here to our higher ups."

"I appreciate that, and don't worry, there's no hard feelings." Luffy said with a nod, standing up, surprising not only me but Commander Ripper as well as she gave a proper naval salute and said "I hope that now that Morgan has been dealt with you have a smoother command Commander."

Ripper blinked in shock for a moment before he saluted her back and said "Thank you again for your service to this town Captain."

Luffy dropped her arm and gave one last nod as she began walking out and said "Come on guys, it's time to move out."

"Aye, aye ma'am." Zoro said, stretching his arms out before standing up and following, the rest of us Straw Hats following.

As we neared the door, Ripper said "Hang on, isn't this one one of yours?"

We turned to see him pointing at Koby and Luffy shook her head as she said "Nah, he got abducted by another crew two years ago due to his Navigation ability. I agreed to bring him here when I sent their captain flying so that way he could become a Marine like he always wanted."

"Hm, I see…" Ripper said, turning his gaze back onto Koby who stiffened with a small swallow but still managed to keep matching Ripper's gaze. After a moment, Ripper said "I suppose that I can give you a chance young man, but you will have to work your way from the very bottom up."

Koby smiled so wide he was starting to imitate Luffy as he saluted and said "Thank you sir, I won't let you down!" At Ripper's nod, Koby dropped his salute, turning towards us and said "Luffy! I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me, but now we're enemies. If we meet again, I'll have to arrest you."

Luffy laughed and said "SHISHISHI, you're going to have to get rather strong then Koby, but you're certainly welcome to try. Good luck kid." And with that, she turned around and led her crew out of the restaurant breaking into a run towards the docks. As we ran after her, we left a friend behind us but we were bringing two more with us.

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Story Roster Related Poll on Profile, please take a minute to check it out.

So, I decided to merge episodes two and three together, hence the wait for this chapter. Given how Shells Town is only two episodes long and I was going off script at the end of episode two I thought it was a good idea. As you saw, we got Nami early so we're going to be spending a couple of days getting her up to standard before heading to Orange Town. (Or is that a couple of weeks? :Rubs Chin:) Anyways, see ya till next time guys and gals!


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